Beyond the Rim
by StatlerWaldorf
Summary: A year after the fall of the Star Forge, Revan feels strangely compelled to venture beyond the Outer Rim. Now she must leave Carth and somehow stop the menace of the True Sith... before it stops her.
1. The Call of the Sith

Carth sat up. Revan was already sitting on the balcony, meditating.

_Have I been asleep for that long?_ thought Carth. He checked the time. Actually, it was quite early, and Carth could tell that Revan had already been in her calm for several hours.

Carth showered, changed, and came back into the bedroom. Revan was now standing, looking out on the vast golden hills before her. She wore her plain Jedi robes and a small, almost invisible silver chain around her neck.

Carth walked up to her and put his arms around her shoulders.

"You're up early again," he murmured, kissing her.

"I've needed to think a lot lately."

"Do you have to think so early?"

Revan smiled vacantly, staring out into the morning light. Her skin suddenly grew cold beneath Carth's hands.

Carth turned her to face him. "You okay?"

Revan walked back inside and sat on the bed. Carth followed and sat on the other side.

"Do you want to talk about it? Is it about us?"

Revan stayed silent.

"Well, I'm here for you. Like you were always here for me."

Revan curled up on the sheets. Carth wrapped his arms around her slender form.

"Thank you, Carth," slurred Revan, falling asleep, "I love you."

"I love you, too," Carth whispered into her ear. She fell asleep.

"What are you hiding from me?" whispered Carth, stroking Revan's hair.

Reaching around her neck, Carth found the silver chain Revan always wore and lifted it out of her robe. On the chain dangled a small circular pendant baring the engraved image of a hand with an eight-pointed star branded into its palm: the Onasi crest. Carth wore an exact duplicate around his own neck.

He looked upon Revan. She had often awaken early in the morning lately, sometimes disappearing so late at night that Carth could not stay awake for her return, try as he might. She would meditate for unusually long stretches, and it seemed to Carth that her rationality was hanging by a thread.

Why was she doing this to herself?

_They're going to hurt you_

_You cannot_

_You will not_

_Defeat Us_

_You think you are strong_

_Then why do you not stop Us?_

_You will never_

_Destroy_

_The True Sith._

Revan awoke, ashen-faced, with perspiration on her forehead. Her hastened breathing awoke Carth.

"Revan? Are you okay?"

"Just a second… I'm fine, I…" Revan walked across the room and down the hall to the bathroom. She turned on the refresher and splashed water onto her face. As she looked in the mirror, she could see every action she had taken as Darth Revan, serving the Sith, all the live she had shattered in whatever method.

The light was switched on. Carth stood behind Revan, whose reflection showed only the two of them.

"It wasn't just a nightmare, was it?" asked Carth.

Revan buried her face in her hands. Weakly, she admitted, "I don't know, Carth. I have no idea."


	2. Enter Canderous

Canderous Ordo flexed his fearsome Mandalorian biceps.

"Pathetic," he spat. "You've let yourself soften, Canderous. How do you expect to get back into the middle of things if you can't keep yourself in shape?"

He went through his rigorous training routine, repeating each movement with perfect timing, ignoring any pain.

After the fifteenth time through, the communication console began to ring. He checked the signature of the call.

"Onasi?" he read aloud, wondering. "Carth?"

He pressed a button and recognized on the screen the holographic face of Revan.

"Revan? So you're still with Onasi, then."

Revan laughed hollowly.

"What's up? You sick of him or something?"

"I didn't think you did humor, Canderous."

"Who's being funny? I have connections. I can… eliminate him if he's being stupid again."

Revan smiled.

"So what's _really_ going on, Rev?"

"I don't know for sure. Something… possibly Sith-related. Outside the Outer Rim."

"And you need firepower?"

"Exactly. And I assure you, you will be well comp-"

"Save it. I'm not a diplomat. You can count me in, money or not. I owe you one."

"Good. You're on Nar Shaddaa, huh?"

"Where else would I go?"

"Well, meet me at the coordinates and the time I'm transmitting now."

Canderous looked down at the console.

"Rush job, huh, Rev? Sounds like this is more serious than I thought. I'll see you there."

Revan bade him farewell and hung up.

"Or," said Canderous, "maybe this is more serious than you're willing to admit to yourself?"

_So you will now wage war upon Us?_

_Oh, you know not what you do_

_Before you leave Us,_

_Everyone around you will fall._

Revan awoke, sweating and pallid.

"…Revan, it's okay, it's just me. Revan, wake up," Carth was urging. Revan looked at him, eyes wide.

"Did I say anything?" she asked softly.

"You said 'You can't kill him' a few times," responded Carth. He frowned at her, concerned.

Revan sat up and turned her back on Carth. She rested her chin pensively in her hands.

"Carth," she said, "I can't let you come tomorrow."

Carth pulled Revan into him, folding her against his body.

"I can't… I can't take anyone I love," she feebly explained. She shut her moistening eyes.

"Why not?" asked Carth quietly, brushing away Revan's tears.

"Because you won't let me go alone if I go halfway with you, Carth. And If I let you come, you will be destroyed. And I will never let you get hurt if I can prevent it in any way, Carth. I love you too much." She embraced him around the neck and looked into his eyes. Revan saw fear in them, mixed with grief.

"Why are you afraid, Carth?"

He pushed Revan's head into his shoulder so that he couldn't see her tears.

"I know what you've been through. And I don't want you to go down that path."

"Carth, I won't betray you. I love you. I would die before I would hurt you."

"That's another reason. If you die, you _will_ hurt me."

Carth kissed Revan on the lips.

"Carth… if I do die, you'll know. You won't have to ask yourself. I will tell you. However I have to. And in some way, I will stay with you forever."

He kissed her again.

"But I won't die," she said. "Because I don't want to hurt you."

Carth stroked Revan's head. "I will always love my prodigal Jedi," he said. "I will never forget you, beautiful. No matter how long you're gone."

He tightly closed himself around her.

"As long as I live, Carth," pledged Revan, "I'll wear the Onasi seal against my skin."

She slept, fatigued, savoring her last night with Carth. She tried to remember perfectly the peace she was feeling, so that maybe while she was fighting, maybe completely outnumbered by whomever she was facing, she could come back to that peace, feel this euphoric bliss and security.

There was no telling if she would ever be here again.


	3. Buried Memory

Canderous had a sleepless night, feeling a forbidding shadow looming in his future.

He tried to shake off the gloom with some calisthenics, but they only served to give him sore muscles. As a hardened Mandalorian officer in the Wars and a soldier under Revan, Canderous was not generally susceptible to nervousness, but now he was jumping around like a Jawa on ryll. Which was not a natural phenomenon, he was sure.

"I need to stop thinking so hard," thought Canderous out loud. "I just need to calm down."

Canderous slept fitfully for a while, plagued by nightmares of creatures pulling at his flesh and carrying his limbs in their mouths. More nightmares followed, of being forced to kill or be killed by Revan.

He awoke. On the edge of his bed, he sat and experimented with new hyper-adrenal stimulants all night, concocting strangely colored formulae.

They would either kill him or keep him awake.

Revan tried to center herself.

She sat in her robes on the cold floor of the empty closet. The chill seeped even through the coarse fabric. Around her, even though she had cleaned out this space specifically for her meditation, she could feel pinpricks of life scattered around the room. Reaching out with her mind, she gently pushed the small bacterial life forms away, leaving the room devoid of any miscellaneous life.

Sitting cross-legged, Revan felt the Force deep within herself. She stared into nothing and erased her mind of every distracting thought.

Then, she heard her own voice, deep inside her.

_Malachor._

Images flooded her mind, popping forth from deep recesses of her memory. Carnage, battlefields, the dead of the Mandalorians entwined with the corpses of Republic soldiers, finally at a truce in death.

Revan felt the heat in the stagnant air around her, remnants of the battle atmosphere causing beats of heat waves intermittently. On one side of her was her own soon-to-be apprentice, Malak. Across from him stood Mandalore himself, defending his wounded self with a pulsing vibroblade.

Still, Revan knew, Mandalore was powerful, and Malak was young and inexperienced in comparison, especially at this particular battle.

Trapped inside the vision-Revan, the rogue-Jedi-Revan, Revan wanted to scream. She knew what happened next.

Then she noticed a thing she had, oddly, not noticed last time: a giant, menacing being of shadows.

_Why can't they see it?_ Wondered Revan as the beast hovered over vision-Revan, ready to strike at any moment.

Reaching to it through the Force, Revan tried to discern what this monstrous beast was. As she latched on to its deadly aura, it became dreadfully clear:

The beast was nothing but darkness. A servant of malevolence.

Revan watched from Vision-Revan's point of view as Malak, himself wounded, battled Mandalore. It was obvious that all he could do was go on the defensive, and how long could he keep that up? Mandalore's fortitude was unequaled throughout the galaxy.

Then Revan heard the beast speak in a serpentine voice that made her want to shiver but thrilled vision-Revan. It was a strange language, one Revan had never heard before. She knew that vision-Revan was not hearing it now, despite that she was reacting to it. Even so, Revan knew exactly what this tongue was and what it was saying. It was unadulterated darkness, some sort of initiation into the Dark Side, a call to vision-Revan's inevitable and horrible fate.

Vision-Revan subtly raised a hand and clenched it into a fist. Mandalore's weapon dropped to the ground as he gasped for breath.

Malak knocked off Mandalore's helmet with his fist, and brought his lightsaber spiraling into the warrior's face…

The beast descended.

Revan screamed as it's grisly claws approached her past self…

She opened her eyes as the door opened, letting in irritating amounts of artificial light.

"Are you okay?" asked Carth as Revan shielded her eyes from the glaring light.

"I… know where I have to go, Carth."

Carth folded his arms and looked at her quizzically.

"Never mind," she said, staggering onto her feet. "Wait. How late is it? Did you come home early?"

"Actually," said Carth, gesturing out the window at the moons, "you've been in there for hours."

Revan rubbed her temples. "Oh." She paused. It had seemed like only minutes. "How strange."

Carth threw his jacket onto the chair. For once, Revan was home and had not enclosed herself in a closet all day. After hearing her premonition, Carth had insisted that she stay cloistered inside for the day before she was to leave. She needed her strength, Carth reasoned. In a brief fit of paranoia after hearing that vision, Carth had considered ordering the house on lockdown, but Revan had quickly calmed him down and assured him that she would be fine.

As Carth sat in his meeting with Admiral Dodonna that day, he had been nervous almost to the point of twitching as he imagined worst-case scenario after worst-case scenario. Carth and the admiral had accomplished nothing all day, and then Carth realized that this was what his future would be like as soon as Revan left. And for how long? Carth couldn't really say.

Upon his return home, Carth found Revan pacing and restless. Hers was not a restlessness of nerves, however, but a want for movement. She had meditated, she had seen how far she could throw rocks outside the window, and she had endured countless attempts at humor by the droids guarding her. By the time Carth returned, her impatience was reaching a lethal level.

Now, she was going on and on about what she had seen in last night's vision, trying to interpret it while Carth, bewildered, desperately tried to comprehend anything she was saying. Carth sat down opposite her and took her tense hands in his. They were so flexed that he wondered what could keep them from popping.

"Hey," he said, remaining calm in spite of his own pent-up frustration. "Settle down, beautiful. I know you've been pretty bored sitting around here all day, but this… this isn't like you. You're not generally a stressed-out person."

She sighed and yawned, exhausted by the energy she had just expended.

"Yeah…" she said, "but it's so… terrible. There's a threat out there that I can't fight because I'm stuck here. I can't stand the waiting. The Sith under Malak usually just said that they wanted me dead and then tried to kill me. But this adversary… it's cunning."

Carth nodded, relieved he was able to understand everything she said.

"Well," he said, "it won't do you any good to go out there alone and get yourself killed."

He thought silently, his eyes piercing Revan's. She did not speak, as though she knew he was not done with this thought. This did not seem to reassure her.

"In fact," he continued slowly, "maybe you shouldn't be alone at any point out there."

He seemed to contemplate this as his thumbs absent-mindedly caressed her hands.

Revan shook her head. "Not a chance, Carth. No."

"Oh, yes," he said. She clenched his hands tightly.

"You can't, Carth. I can't let you."

"I wouldn't stay the whole time."

"What if something happened to you? You can't!"

"And what if something happened to you because I wasn't there?"

Carth shook his head. "I can't let that happen."

Revan's eyes pleaded with him furiously, and he stood his ground.

"Too much risk is involved if you go on your own, beautiful. It's you that these things know, not me. And the danger is always less with two."

"No."

"I'll just stay until you meet up with Canderous."

"No. I need the _Lumens_."

"I know."

"So how would you get off Nar Shaddaa? Walking?"

"You're going to have to stop at Dantooine after Nar Shaddaa, right? Can you drop me off there? Or I can find my own way off. I don't care. But I'm coming."

Revan glared at him. He flashed an amiable smile at her. Revan scowled at him: an unwilling concession to his logic.

"I'm coming with you to Nar Shaddaa tomorrow, he murmured firmly. "I'll leave as soon as you're with Canderous," he promised, "And no sooner."

"And no later," warned Revan. Carth nodded in accordance.

Revan looked down, and the panic, stress, and fire drained from her eyes, leaving only weariness and sorrow. Carth leaned forward and kissed her.

"I know it isn't going to be easy for you," he purred lovingly, "and I'm proud of you for staying so strong. Believe me, it's not going to be too easy for me, either."

He stood and helped her to her feet.

"I'll hang in there if you will," said Revan. Carth hugged her.

"All right, beautiful," he said. "We'd better get some sleep if we're leaving tomorrow."

Fatigued, Revan nodded as Carth walked her into bed.

You will betray him 

_Then you will betray the one who helped you_

And so shall the twain remember you 

Revan looked in the mirror at the circles beneath her eyes. Her sleep had been, as usual, fitful, and she hoped that setting off would relieve some of the worry.

Carth was lifting his equipment onto the _Lumens_, and Revan thought to herself about last night's dreams.

All she could remember were those three lines, and they played through her mind incessantly. Revan dreaded the thought that she might anyone again, much less have to go through a double betrayal. How could she, who had forsaken the Dark Side, fall to it once more?

"It will not happen," whispered Revan to herself, "not this time."

As Revan's Rodian pilots, Cyde and Kaas, prepared for departure, Carth made sure he had remembered everything.

"You know," said Revan, standing above him, "you aren't exactly going on a vacation or something. This is quite different than a scenic visit to Alderaan or something. So you can stop rifling through boxes like it's your birthday."

"Well, excuse me for putting a positive spin on things."

"Sorry."

"Yeah, whatever. I'm just trying to keep your mind off things so I can feel at least a little more reassured about letting the love of my life gallivant off to who-knows-where in the universe. Now, if you'll excuse me."

He continued to scour through the contents of the boxes.

So he was scared too? Well, thought Revan, walking to the galleys, she could understand that. Besides, they'd both been under a great deal of stress lately.

She'd just have to try and stay calm for both of their sakes.


	4. Old Friends, Same Problems

Author's Note: Thanks to Eve and Laura and all my other reviewers for… reviewing, I guess. Keep it up! Also, thanks to the San Francisco Unified School District for giving us so much time to take standardized testing that I was able to write chapters 4-8 without having to do them in class and get in trouble! ( --very awkward sentence structure there) 

**Chapter 4: Old Friends, Same Problems**

_Revan_

Onboard the _Lumos_, Revan arose from her meditation, treading lightly in her mind around stressful topics so as not to upset the crystalline peace she had surrounded herself with. Revan sat down at the ship's dejarik board and exhaustedly rested her head on her folded arms.

"We're not going to Nar Shaddaa?" Carth's voice startled her, and she bolted up.

"Oh," she replied, relaxing, "no. Later. We have to make a quick stop on Alderaan first."

Carth strolled over and sat opposite Revan. He activated the board. Miniature holographic creatures flickered into existence on black-and-white shapes.

"Your move," he said. Revan chose her piece, and it jumped forward a space.

"I'm not going to make you book passage on some ryll-infested shuttle from Nar Shaddaa, Carth. Not in a million years."

Carth moved a piece towards Revan's side.

"And I'm not going to make you get that old ship. Do you even know if it still works? Safely?"

Revan's piece attacked from behind, an opening Carth seemed to have missed.

"The _Hawk_ is not old."

"Oh yeah? How would you know? From all the owners who stole it before you?"

"That's not what this is about, Carth."

Carth's piece grabbed the throat of one of Revan's.

"You're right," said Carth, "this is about you leaving me because you've been having bad dreams. Checkmate."

Revan looked Carth in the eye as she switched off the game. Carth's jubilantly victorious pieces ceased their dances and vanished. Carth reached out and wove his fingers with Revan's. Her frustrated stare quivered.

"So you're just going to drop me on Alderaan or what?"

Revan lowered her gaze to their locked fingers. "No," she corrected, "_you're_ dropping _me_ off. I'm going to see an old… an old friend of ours."

Curiously, Carth raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't know you two still kept in touch," he remarked.

"We don't," Revan responded, "but she's there."

"Oh?"

Revan gave him eye contact with a smirk. "Looks like you'll just have to trust me, Carth."

_Bastila Shan_

Bastila stared intensely past the serene natural beauty of Aldera's outskirts.

Revan. Bastila could feel her former companion's presence growing closer. Their bond may have atrophied from lack of use, but it was still active, still functioning as a link between the two Force-users.

Bastila still hesitated to call Revan a Jedi. Technically, Revan did not live by the strict discipline of the Order, nor did she seem to intend to, judging by the last time the two had seen each other. Not that Bastila considered herself an ideal Jedi: her fall to the Dark Side about a year prior had proven her all-too-human fallibility. Their last reunion had been one on interesting terms: both had been returned to the Light Side by each other at some point, and Bastila felt that she understood Revan much better than she had before.

That had been months ago, but surely Bastila would have felt it if Revan's mind and heart had changed to such a degree. No, decided Bastila, their bond was not so weak yet that she would stay completely ignorant to significant changes in Revan.

Once in a while, Bastila was sure she had even glimpsed some of Revan's dreams. Otherwise, she reasoned, would she really have had such graphically violent dreams regarding cantankerous Master Vrook? Beheading of curmudgeonly Jedi Masters was not Bastila's preferred method of anger management.

Then there had been the more deeply disturbing dream of that cold, dead planet, seething with darkness, so real that Bastila was barely sure it had even been a dream. Young Malak dueling with a masked figure that could only be Mandalore himself. There was a massive shadow hovering over Revan, waiting for its chance to consume the young rogue Jedi. Before it could strike, however, Bastila had awoken, her heart beating double the rate of her already hastened breathing.

A silver lake stretched before Bastila's steady gaze. She brushed a lock of her chestnut hair behind her ear with a dexterous ivory hand.

Revan was going to have a lot of questions to answer if she was planning to come anywhere near Bastila.

_Revan_

Revan paced nervously around the room. Carth lazily reclined on a miscellaneous piece of fairly sturdy furniture that had come with the ship, sipping warm Rishiian syal nectar.

"Are you sure you don't want to sit down?" he asked tentatively. She shook her head, a movement Carth barely caught as she continued pacing. He shrugged and took another long drink of his beverage. When he lowered the glass, however, Revan came over and sat at the edge of the blocky mattress, tapping her fingers impatiently on the side of it.

Carth reached out and put his arm around Revan's waist. She clung to the furniture, grunting in protest, but Carth's superior strength pulled her back to him. He kissed her slowly, pacifying the rhythms of her fingers, and Revan could taste the sweet nectar on his lips. She felt its soothing effects set in, and as Carth looked into her eyes, she felt lethargic, but in such a way that it felt more like a quiet strength than a lack of energy. Revan nestled her head into Carth's chest, and Carth remembered how young she was. She sighed, and her eyelids lowered so that her lashes almost touched her face. Carth brushed her smooth cheekbones, and she looked up at him, her eyes emanating calm radiance.

The _Lumos_ was suddenly shaken. All the serenity flew from the room as Carth and Revan jumped to their feet and rushed towards the cockpit.

We've taken a hit! shouted Kaas in Huttese. -Someone get in the turrets!

Carth and Revan turned in opposite directions and ran.


	5. Old Friends, New Problems

**Chapter 5: Old Friends, New Problems **

_Carth _

Carth fired, hitting another fighter.

"Nice shot." Revan's voice was laced with static over the comlink. "Just a million more to go."

Carth checked his radar. There were at least thirty of these pesky little insects left, and they just kept buzzing around, whittling away at the _Lumos'_ shields.

He took his aim and was about to fire again when, suddenly, the fighters dispersed in opposite directions, leaving the way clear in front of the _Lumos_.

Revan's voice came crackling in. "Carth?'

"What just happened?" he asked incredulously, still staring at the empty space before him.

"Look at your radar, Carth."

He looked down. The radar was detecting a massive… object. Carth looked into space and back at the radar a few times, then switched his comlink back on.

"Uh… what… what is that?"

"I don't know, but the way those fighters just scuttled off like that, I'm guessing it isn't good."

Carth's mouth went dry.

"Maybe the radar is malfunctioning. I'm going to contact Cyde. Don't go anywhere."

"Right."

Carth switched channels.

"Cyde, do you read me? Picking up a massive unidentified structure on radar. Could this be an equipment malfunction? Over."

"No, no," said the Rodian in spotty Basic. "Radar good. We pick up structure too."

Carth clenched his teeth. "Right. Thanks." He switched over to Revan.

"Carth?"

"The radar… it's fine. There's something there."

Revan sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

_Bastila _

Bastila was jarred from her restful meditation by ominous waves of panic.

"Revan," she whispered to herself.

Trying to shake it off, she rifled through her cabinets and threw on a blue robe. Her hands shook as she tied it around her waist.

Bastila slipped on brown sandals and walked out her back door. She stood beneath the golden sun, absorbing its warmth. Still, the foreboding feeling did not leave her in peace. Her head began to ache slightly.

"By Ragnos," she complained in an undertone, "I knew that Iridonian caffa was too strong."

A distinct taste filled her mouth, a rancid sense. Bastila gagged, then went cold as she felt the darkness around her.

No. The darkness was around Revan, she knew.

Bastila sat right on the grass beside the lake and meditated as hard as she could muster the strength for.

_Revan _

Revan felt as though fear was gripping her by the waist and whispering death sentences into her ears. Still, she fought. Carth was trying to hail the vessel with Kaas and Cyde, and there was no way to contact any of them.

Revan thought she heard a lilting voice calling to her, stretching like wisps of blue smoke from the planet below. Revan reached out to Alderaan with her mind, pinpointing one spot.

_:Bastila…:_

_:There is no emotion:_

_:There is… peace…:_

As Revan played the words of the Jedi Code through her head, they became stifled by the darkness around her.

_-Have you at last, Darth Revan._

"Not… a Sith," protested Revan, the voices ringing with mockery through her head.

_-You were. You can be again. The power you once had… the worlds you collected… held like a string of krayt dragon pearls… do you not wish for them when you're alone?_

Revan struggled to fend off the solid evil forming around her like a wall.

_:No: cried Bastila in her mind. :Don't let them block you from me:_

Revan shut her eyes and tried to scream without air. Sweat streamed from her hairline.

Everything was darkness.


	6. Thinking Inside the Box

**Chapter 6: Thinking Inside the Box**

_Revan_

_:Don't move. Just be slow.:_

Revan opened her eyes. All around her was white. Bastila was kneeling down, holding both of Revan's hands.

_:Am I… am I dead:_

_:No. You're… well, I don't know where we are, but we're safe. Away from the darkness.:_

Revan looked at her hands. The distinct scar she had acquired as a young child was missing. She withdrew her hands from Bastila's.

_:This… this isn't my hand.:_

Bastila frowned. _:No:_ she wondered aloud. _:We appear to have temporarily transcended our physical bodies.:_

_:I thought we weren't dead:_

_:I don't think we are. I think… maybe we _are_ in one of our bodies. Minds.:_

_:Oh:_

_:I'm just not sure.:_

_:Oh.:_

Revan looked around her. This place seemed to have no end to its vastness. It reminded her of the box that she had delivered to Vogga the Hutt once… the one she wasn't supposed to open, with the Rakatan prisoner inside who wanted to take over Revan's body…

_:Bastila:_

_:Yes:_

_:We… we need to…:_ :Revan paused, thinking. _:We need to figure out whose body this is. But then… I know how to get us out.:_

_---_

_Carth_

The massive, invisible form had not responded to any of Carth's hails.

"You want us land?" asked Cyde.

Or we could fire on it, suggested Kaas.

Carth weighed his options carefully.

"Well, I'd really prefer to avoid a conflict," he reasoned, "but landing's going to be pretty hard with that thing in our way. We'll go with your plan for now, Kaas."

The Rodian nodded, satisfied.

"All right." He opened a channel for Revan. "Hey, Jedi lady, time to get to work. Fire on my signal, understood?"

Silence.

"Revan, do you read me?"

The Rodians looked at each other and up at Carth, whose lip quivered.

"Are you in trouble, gorgeous?"

Carth waited for a moment, and then made for Revan's turret.

I take it that was a yes, quipped Kaas nervously.

Carth's voice came through on the comlink.

"Change of plans," he exclaimed urgently. "Take us in for a landing. She's… she's totally unconscious."

Almost immediately, the _Lumos_ was off. Kaas and Cyde prayed under their breaths that the phantom vessel would not follow.

_Revan_

Revan lie on the ground, eyes shut. She cupped her hands around her ear as she pressed it to the ground, as if she would be able to figure out whose mind they were in by listening. Then she stood.

_:Bastila:_ she thought to the Jedi, _:I just thought of something. If this were my mind, wouldn't I have known about the scar on my hand? So I would have it in my mental image of myself.:_

_:But this is you, not a mental image.:_

_:Well…:_ Revan struggled to think. This was spiraling downwards into the greatest depths of confusion. _:But this isn't my body:_ she concluded. _:This is just my spirit. Right? What you're seeing is only an image… your mind making me look as you perceive me.:_

This was giving Revan a headache. She lay back down as Bastila thought the theory through.

_:Makes sense.:_

_:Then maybe I can remember how to jump back-:_

_:But if you're wrong…:_

Revan shrugged. _:Let's just hope I'm not.:_

Revan breathed deeply. As she propelled herself away, the world around her melted into dizzying swirls of color…


	7. Holding On

**Chapter 7: Holding On**

_Carth _

Carth gripped Revan's hand. There was no diagnosis for her condition right now; all they knew was that she was definitely alive and very much comatose. As to why, there was no answer.

"We barely made it here alive, beautiful," he whispered to her, "we're not losing you now."

The ship had become visible as soon as they jumped into hyperspace, a strange, sleek craft, jet-black and shining like it was liquid. The thing was fast, but as it fired upon the _Lumos_ with its strange indigo blasts, the _Lumos_ managed to sweep away faster. Kaas and Cyde were impressive pilots.

After a brief and heated discussion with an unhappy dock officer, the unscheduled landing was given permission to stay where it was, and as Kaas handed the 25 credit bribe over to Dock Officer **M**edans, Carth had quickly carried Revan to a medical facility. It had not been easy: though Revan was not particularly heavy while awake, her dead weight made Carth feel like he was carrying a bantha. Not that Revan ever needed to know that.

At the medical facility, complicated forms were filled out, many a loophole was jumped through, and Revan was finally admitted. Carth had contacted Canderous to inform him of the delay, and Carth wondered, a little jealously perhaps, if the Mandalorian was always shirtless when he answered the communications console.

It had been three standard hours, and now Carth was still sitting, rubbing Revan's cold hands and touching her flushed cheeks.

Carth's face was a mask of anguish. What if he lost Revan, too?

"Not another one," he pleaded, "not like this."

Carth still remembered vividly. Holding his wife in his arms, her head bleeding, hair and skin burnt. Her glazed eyes, first drowning in pain and then completely lifeless. He would not go through that agony again. Ever.

With a jolt, machines started beeping and humming. Revan's eyes shot open and she sat up. Carth let go of her hand in shock.

Her breathing was heavy and she quickly looked around the room in a panic. She then looked at the hand that Carth had been holding.

"Ow. Did something happen to my hand or what?"

Carth was speechless.

_

* * *

_

_Canderous _

"Carth Onasi. No, he checked her in. Do I need to go through every room in here or what?"

Canderous loved intimidation, as low as it was. The nurse shakily found a file and snatched it up, quickly scanning it.

I… I'm sorry, sir. Room 113b. If there is any qu… question, just tell them… tell them Kalina approved of your visit, squeaked the Twi'lek in Huttese.

"Yeah, right. Thanks," muttered Canderous gruffly. He stomped down the hall to room 113b.

Canderous was still unclear on the situation. Carth had said something about an attack by an invisible ship… but that couldn't be right. Onasi was crazy. There was also some mention of Rev being incapacitated. The fact that she was in the hospital now made Canderous even more on edge. He was as jumpy as a tach monkey, and had about half the patience.

Finally, amidst the seemingly scattered room numbers, Canderous found 113b. He knocked twice and waited a second before entering, not wanting to be privy to one of Carth's and Revan's displays of affection.

"Onasi," acknowledged Canderous as he stepped in, "Rev. You're up," he noticed with surprise.

"I wouldn't say that," corrected Revan, grimacing as she attempted to sit up straighter.

"It's been a while," remarked Carth. He shook the Mandalorian's hand, which was roughly twice the size of Carth's.

"Yeah, well, don't get all sentimental on me, Onasi. What's the situation?" Canderous took Carth's seat at Revan's side.

Carth explained the unusual occurrences to Canderous, from the cloaked ship to Revan's collapse. He waited for Revan to chime in about what had happened to her, but Revan offered no explanation, and Carth knew better than to try and squeeze it out of her. Canderous, however, had no such tact.

"Wait," he interrupted as Carth began to speak again, "what happened to you, Rev? You just collapsed?"

Revan seemed lost in thought. Her expression grew concerned.

"Did you get scared or something?" Canderous scoffed. Revan's eyes widened.

"I was just kidding," apologized Canderous. "Are you…"

Revan gasped.

"What?" cried both of the males simultaneously, rushing to her.

"Bastila," Revan whispered sharply. "We need to find her."


	8. Motley Crew

**Chapter 8: Motley Crew (or Bad ER References)**

_Bastila_

_:I wonder if she was right:_ Bastila said to herself. She frowned. The whiteness around her was blinding.

_:Well, I guess I could try meditating.:_

For hours she waited. Maybe she should not have trusted a former Sith Lord.

_

* * *

_

_Revan _

A small Tynnan walked into 113 B.

"Can I go yet?" asked Revan wearily.

The Tynnan brusquely shook her head. "Nope. Your healing rate is remarkable, but we want to keep you here for observation."

"For how long, Doctor…"

"Doctor Teaver. And we're not sure. We want to be able to fully understand your rapid healing rate. Something about it doesn't check out."

Revan sighed. She was going under an alias here, using the identity of an ordinary civilian who had gone missing in action sometime in the Mandalorian Ward and had probably been killed. Carth had been a friend of this woman's cousin, and that entire family was now presumed dead in the bombing of Telos. Revan could not give away her Force sensitivity or her Jedi training under this identity. Nor could she explain to Doctor Teaver that she had been a prisoner in Bastila Shan's mind and had used her Force healing to recover so quickly. Or whatever had just happened.

"Maybe I got lucky," suggested Revan as Doctor Teaver checked the intravenous drip.

"Well, we'll see," muttered the Tynnan as she patted Revan on the hand. "Doctor Har'tlock will be by in a few hours, and Doctor Dormay might check in, as well." She spoke of these doctors as if Revan would have some inkling of who they were.

_Hopefully they're coming with food,_ thought Revan wistfully. Doctor Teacer's comlink crackled and a heavily accented voice, obviously accustomed to speaking a huskier language, came through. Revan heard the words "Jedi," "coma," and "front desk, please."

Revan sat up. Canderous and Carth seemed to have found her quickly.

"Thanks, Luvak," said Dr. Teaever calmly. She left the room.

* * *

_Carth _

Bastila, despite her appearance, was even heavier than Revan. It was a good thing Canderous was there; otherwise, Carth would never have gotten Bastila off of the ground.

It had not been hard to find the Jedi. The nurse at the hospital's front desk seemed extremely eager to do anything Canderous wanted, and in a flash, they had an address and directions for Bastila. Carth could have sworn that the Twi'lek had added on a "Please don't hurt me," but then again, Carth's Huttese was a little rusty.

Carth and Canderous were let in to Bastila's fairly large residence by an apathetic cleaning girl who was probably working her way through the Academy of Aldera. They called out for Bastila with no response, but Canderous, feeling a breeze at his side, had charged towards it. The breeze led outside to a lake, next to which was Bastila's sprawled, shallowly breathing form. Carefully, Carth and Canderous had lifted her. Their groans attracted the wandering attention of the cleaning girl, who then proceeded to help lead them all back to the hospital.

The Twi'lek receptionist was gone, replaced by a dark-featured Codru-Ji. With an inscrutable expression, he called in a Tynnan doctor. As the Codru-Ji looked over the unlikely group with his jadeite-colored eyes, he was obviously suppressing what would have been a slightly inappropriate smile. Watching the Tynnan helped Canderous load Bastila onto a gurney, Carth had to admit that the group did seem a little strange: a Mandalorian, a grunged-up teenager, and Carth in his Republic uniform, all carrying an unconscious, porcelain Jedi princess.

Carth then began to haggle with the Codru-Ji about visiting times, but even with Canderous' less-than-diplomatic form of persuasion, Carth could not break the doctor's cool exterior. The Codru-Ji merely folded his four arms and shrugged, saying that there was nothing to do about it.

"Your apologies aren't very convincing," said Carth through gritted teeth.

The Codru-Ji brushed back a strand of his dark hair. "I didn't apologize, actually, sir." His curling accent took on a sharper, more sibilant edge, closer to the canine language of Codruese.

Carth gave up and walked to the back of the waiting room. Canderous persisted in his arguing, but Carth decided to leave them at it. Bastila's cleaning girl sat down a seat away from Carth, slumping forward. Carth raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"You know," he said, "you can leave, if you want."

"Nah," she responded, twirling her black-white-and-plum striped hair around a finger. "The Jedi still owes me money."

Carth half-smiled and shook his head. The kid reminded him of Revan. He wondered if Revan had purple streaked through her hair at that age, probably barely ten years ago. Knowing Revan, she probably had a wider rainbow of colors than that, if at all.

Canderous finally surrendered and sat down angrily next to Carth.

"Don't worry about it," advised Carth. They'll let Revan out soon, right?"

Canderous shook his head. "Sorry, Onasi," he said, "They're keeping her for tests, it seems."

Carth blanched. The Codru-Ji looked smug.


	9. Saving Padawan Bastila

**Chapter 9: Saving Padawan Bastila**  
_Revan_

The room was completely dark, but Revan closed her eyes anyway. Reaching out softly with her mind, she could make out only three security guards that could cause any difficulties for her. Reaching out even farther, Revan locked onto a comfortingly familiar but faint energy: Bastila.

Oddly, there was no one near Bastila's room: no nurses, no security guards, not even a moving cleaning droid. Were they just leaving her to die?

Not that the doctors actually _could_ do anything about Bastila's condition, reflected Revan. Bastila's ailment was deep within her mind. The doctors would not know that, though.

With a slight wave of her hand, Revan switched off the machines to which she was attached, hoping that there was no one genuinely paying attention to her vitals. When no one came running, Revan stood and moved towards the door. On the other side of it, she sensed, stood a human male of average build, probably nothing Revan could not handle on her own. Even so, Revan decided that perhaps it would be wiser to precisely pinch two of the guard's nerves with her mind. Having incapacitated him as such, she opened the door, smiling a little to herself. Revan dragged the guard into her room and took his identification.

Revan locked and left the room, but instead of turning right to find Bastila, she turned left. The Jedi would probably approve of this half-thought plan, of course, but right now, it was a risk that Revan was willing to take.

_

* * *

__Canderous_

A muffled thud aroused Canderous' keen senses. His steel-gray eyes shot open, but he could discern very little in the darkness before him. The waiting room lights were dim, but with his exceptional warrior's vision, he could see the slightest movement in the air ahead, rippling through the open doorway towards him.

Revan suddenly flickered into being for a split second, and Canderous knew that she wanted him to follow her.

Without waking anyone, Canderous quietly followed the undulations of air. He felt Revan's hand grip his slightly, and it led him down the hall, stopping its pull outside a locked door, undoubtedly leading to Bastila Shan.

Canderous saw no light coming through the windows of the room, and Bastila seemed to be its sole occupant.

There was a muted swiping sound, as though of a plastic card, and the door slowly slid open. Revan took Canderous' hand again, leading him inside. The door closed.

"And just why am I here, Rev?" whispered the Mandalorian as Revan flashed into visibility again. She reached into one of Canderous' vest pockets, and extracted an illumination tube.

"You're going to carry her," responded Revan as she rubbed the vial until it lit. The illumination reflected eerily off of Bastila's porcelain features and Revan's concentrating eyes, but would not betray the trio's activities to any nearby guards.

"Carry her? By myself?" asked Canderous incredulously. Revan firmly pressed a finger to her lips in a desperate attempt to quiet him.

"Is that a yes?" growled Canderous, already knowing the answer. Revan's nod was stern and unquestionable as she lifted her hand, silently disconnection all of the machinery hooked up to Bastila.

"Now," mouthed Revan, camouflaging herself once more. Swiftly, she dropped the light into a nearby bin and opened the door. As Canderous exerted all the strength he had to not drop Bastila's dead weight, Revan pushed him through the corridors, steering him towards the waiting room.

They had almost reached their destination when Canderous suddenly felt no invisible hand pushing him. Quickly, he turned and saw that Revan had been caught around the waist by the Codru-Ji from the reception desk. The Jedi was fully visible as she cried out, "Go! Get everyone out! Wait for me at the ship!"

Canderous was about to protest, but Revan, struggling against both sets of wiry Codru-Ji arms, was obviously not going to be in any mood for negotiating right now.

Hoping that it would not be misconstrued as an honorless act, Canderous turned, Bastila in arms, and ran to the two companions blissfully dozing in the room ahead.

His adrenaline surged like fire in his veins. Perhaps stims were not quite as necessary as he thought

* * *

._Revan_

Red lights on the ceiling switched on suddenly as the building was ordered into lockdown. Canderous had managed to flee with only a few guards on his tail, but Carth and the cleaning girl were still hopelessly groggy.

Satisfied that Bastila was safe with the capable Mandalorian, Revan focused on escaping the tight grips of this hostile Codru-Ji.

Groaning, the Codru-Ji began to drag Revan away from the waiting room, where armed security forces were forbidding anyone to move.

Summoning the Force, Revan pushed the Codru-Ji away from her in a harsh blast of air. As her assailant arose, staggering, Revan took a running leap into the waiting room. "Come on!" she called to Carth and the cleaning girl. The guards gave her a vehement but tired look, assuming that she wanted to leave via the front door and sure that they could easily stop her.

Thinking quickly, Revan winked at the bulkiest of the guards, then turned back to the hallway she had come from and ran with Force-given fury.

* * *

_Canderous_

Canderous lay Bastila in the medbay, himself sweating from the burden.

"At least she's finally stopped her Jedi preaching," he remarked, semi-optimistically.

Canderous informed Cyde and Kaas of the situation, then began to pace nervously across the ship. Where was she? Maybe he should go back…

The door of the ship opened, startling Canderous. The boarding ramp lowered just in time for Revan, Carth, and that weird kid to come charging up into the _Lumos_.

"Take us out of here or we're gonna have some unwanted company banging on our door any second now!" yelled Revan to the pilots.

"Where to?" asked Cyde coolly.

"Uh… can we just tsort of drift in orbit for a while?" suggested Revan. Carth shrugged, but in a moment, they were all sliding around on the floor as the _Lumos_ lifted off.

Once the ship had stabilized and everyone had recovered their bearings, Revan went into the medbay, locking the door behind her.

Canderous looked at Carth, and they both sighed and shrugged their shoulders resignedly.

"Might as well get comfortable," commented Carth, walking over to the dejarik board. "Those two have a lot to figure out."


	10. The Awakening

**Chapter 10: The Awakening **

_Revan _

Bastila lay cold before Revan, shallow breathing sustaining her unconscious body. In contrast, Revan breathed heavily as she let the Force guide her hands to Bastila's ivory forehead, which was now nearly pearlescent with cold sweat.

Revan heard Bastila's heartbeat thumping loudly around her, drowning out the hum of the _Lumos'_ engines. Revan let herself fall into this mesmerizing rhythm, into the pulsating thuds of Bastila Shan.

They were attuned precisely to the same wavelength now, and with their powerful bond, Revan was easily able to feel the battle going on within Bastila's psyche. Distantly, viperous voices hissed menacingly.

_-Little Jedi,_ one taunted, _-all alone with no power. No power at all..._

_-You must renounce what you know, little Jedi. For you are not so innocent as you would have us know._

_-Corrupted. You were... corrupted._

_-And you felt the power surge within you, little Jedi. And we can increase it a hundredfold, for we truly are the Sith._

Revan groped in Bastila's mind for some bit of matter. Bastila's hand, some Sith predator's throat. Whichever was closer.

As she blindly reached around, Revan felt a stinging cold pierce her, as though from the inside and the outside simultaneously.

_:Revan:_ cried Bastila. _:You have to leave! It's not safe:_

Revan did not respond to Bastila's mental cries, but instead tried to block everything from her mind except her goal: dispelling the darkness surrounding Bastila.

Revan filled herself with light and began to aim the brilliance towards the lurking shadows...

* * *

_Carth_

"Stand," declared Canderous.

Carth looked down at his own cards. 5, 4, 7. In his deck, -2+1/-1, -3. He sighed.

"Yeah, hit me," he said resignedly.

Swiftly, Canderous dealt a 1 to Carth.

"Stand," said Carth, none too sure of his Pazaak prowess. He groaned as he realized they had come to yet another tie.

"I'm getting pretty fed up with this," Carth remarked, with a yawn. "Six dejarik stalemates and now these eight tie games of Pazaak. What are they _doing_?"

Canderous leaned back, his feet on the dejarik board.

"Well, don't forget that one game I won," boasted the Mandalorian.

"Oh, yeah, like I didn't win one first. And you have to have been cheating on that one," retorted Carth.

The two sat for a moment in thick silence.

"So," said Carth, "wonder if Bastila's up yet."

"Yeah. She's terrible at Pazaak. At least someone would win something."

"No, I'm serious."

"What happened to her, anyway?"

Carth shrugged. "I don't know anything more than you do, Ordo."

Canderous smirked. "Yeah, that kind of figures, huh?"

Carth looked up from the dejarik board sharply. "What is _that_ supposed to mean?"

Canderous tried to suppress a laugh. "Well, she is a strong woman, of course."

Carth's mahogany eyes bored into Canderous fiercely. "And?"

Canderous, unfazed by this deadly glare, continued. "You're... now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but-" Canderous began to succumb to a fit of laughter- "you're totally whipped, Onasi. Sorry."

Canderous tried to regain his nonchalant composure, and did so only with difficulty. Carth turned away from Canderous in a pout. "Am _not,_" he whispered.

* * *

_Revan_

It was as though the darkness was coiling itself around Revan's limbs. Continually, she shook it off, still searching for Bastila in the darkness.

Finally, Revan felt Bastila's familiar energy ahead of her, dormant.

It felt like Bastila had shut herself down to keep herself from falling to the Dark Side. Revan knew that Bastila was often cautious about the Dark Side, that she felt exceptionally weak against the temptation since her one-time job as Darth Malak's apprentice, but Bastila should have easily fought off this darkness.

_:Bastila:_ Revan hurled her thoughts at Bastila's hibernating essence.

Bastila began to reawaken her psyche simultaneously as the darkness began to attack again. Knowing this, Bastila's psyche, as soon began to relax itself again.

_:No! Bastila:_ urged Revan, _:I need you to help me:_

_:Let me rest, Revan I cannot help you. I will fall too easily to this darkness.:_

_:Not if we stand together, Bastila! We can stop them together:_

Bastila did not respond.

_:Bastila, we need to go on! If we don't fight them off, we'll all have lost.:_

Bastila reluctantly linked her mind's power tightly with Revan's.

_:All right, Revan. But don't… don't be afraid to sacrifice me.:_

_:I won't need to sacrifice you, Bastila. If I sacrifice you, I lose as well.:_

_:Fine. Just... don't be afraid to.:_

Ignoring this, Revan drew upon both her own and Bastila's inner light and power, shielding them both with it. As the darkness neared them, it recoiled in disgust. All of its voices hissed, and it curled into a denser ball of darkness.

_:On three, we attack:_ cried Bastila, with renewed will. _:One... two...:_

As Bastila yelled, _:THREE:_ the sphere of darkness leapt towards them, and light burst around them, puncturing and eating away at the murk until it seemed there was nothing left.

Immediately, Revan awoke in the physical world, her hands still resting on Revan's forehead.

As Revan moved her hands, Bastila's eyes began to open. She smiled slightly, still drained from everything that she had just been through.

Bastila tried to sit up, but winced as she did so.

"How... how exactly did I come to be on this ship?" she asked accusingly.

"Um... Canderous... carried you, actually." Revan grinned.

"I knew it would be something like that. Great job he did. Did he just fling me over his shoulder or what? My back feels like it was pulled at both ends at once!"

Revan opened the medbay door, turning away from a moaning Bastila to conceal a slight half-smile.

"Good to have you back, Bastila."


	11. Safe Landings

**Chapter 11: Safe Landings**

_Canderous_

Bastila was not in a particularly good mood.

Canderous realized this instantly as the newly awakened Jedi hobbled alongside Revan into the recreational room, where Carth was already less than pleased with Canderous. Carth's sulking was nothing, though, compared to Bastila.

"You're up. About time, Jedi," Canderous had greeted her. He expected the gruff remark, which was rather typical of Canderous anyway, to slide right off of Bastila's ice-Jedi-princess persona. He found that he was quite wrong.

"Well," snapped Bastila, "maybe I would have been up sooner if you hadn't carried me here like a dead boma!"

"What? I-"

Bastila glared at the bewildered Mandalorian, who had not really registered his own comment in the first place.

"I think you'd better apologize, Mandalorian," spat Bastila.

"Why? What did I do? Rev, what did you say to her?"

Revan threw up her hands as she knelt down beside Carth's seat. Both were fascinated by this altercation.

"Don't give me that, Ordo! My back must be strained in at least a dozen places from your lovely transportation services!"

"Well," responded Canderous ferociously, "maybe you'd like it back in the hospital, Your Highness."

"Stop it! Stop calling me that!"

Canderous rolled his eyes. "Look, Bastila, you-"

"Um, I hate to interrupt such a fascinating debate and all," interrupted Carth, "but guys? We're kind of busy. We _really_ don't have time for this."

"Right," said Canderous and Bastila simultaneously.

* * *

_Revan_

The _Lumos_ was soon on its way to the landing pad nearest to Bastila's home. Revan strongly doubted that the hospital would still be chasing them; Canderous assured her that by the next shift of receptionists, they would definitely be free, but he refused to explain to Revan exactly what that meant.

In the time between now and the _Ebon Hawk_, however, Revan decided to think no more about it. It was time for her to rest.

Revan lay in the dormitory, unable to sleep on her cot. Thoughts kept shooting across Revan's mind just as she was about to fall asleep: the threatening words of the True Sith, Carth's talk of an invisible ship, and the familiarity of that dark embrace that she had felt in both Bastila's and hr own mind. A part of Revan remembered the Dark Side well, and Revan was afraid that if she did not use extreme caution, that small place deep within her mind would infect the rest of her. A cliché Jedi fear, certainly, but valid, nonetheless. Doubly so, Revan would imagine, for a former Dark Lord of the Sith.

"Hey," said Carth, standing in the doorway of the dormitories. Automatically, the door closed behind him as he walked inside. He sat down next to her, so that her recumbent form faced him. Carth stroked Revan's cheek as she looked up at him, at his battle-worn features, the strength in his eyes. "How's it going?"

Revan half-grinned. "You tell me," she replied. "Invisible alien ships attacking us, Sith infecting Bastila's brain, and now there probably isn't a hospital on Alderaan that's going to admit us." She shook her head, eyes looking beyond Carth.

"Yeah, I seem to remember those," Carth replied sarcastically. "But what about you, beautiful? Are you holding up okay?"

Revan nodded absently. Carth frowned and held her head between his hands to make her focus on him. Finally, she looked straight at him, and nodded more convincingly. Revan pulled herself up into a sitting position, and Carth kissed her strongly, drawing it out of her exquisitely. "Carth," began Revan.

"Don't speak," he murmured.

A signal came out over Revan's comlink, and she and Carth broke apart, sighing wearily.

"We ready for land in a few minutes now," enunciated Cyde, excited.

"Good," replied Revan. She looked over at Carth, who looked fully disappointed. "Cyde," she added, "could you hover for maybe an hour or so until we signal? And keep the channel clear, please? Thanks."

Carth smiled. Revan switched off the comlink and set it aside. Carth enfolded her in his arms and kissed her languidly.

"I love you, Carth Onasi," professed Revan. Carth smirked.

"I know."

* * *

_Canderous_

"The pilots say we'll be up here for another hour," Bastila informed Canderous, popping her head into the room.

The Mandalorian grunted. "It shouldn't take that long," he complained. "I thought Onasi said that we didn't have time for anything. And there's nothing to do on this ship."

Bastila shrugged. She paused for a moment in thought. "What happened to my cleaning girl? Didn't Revan say she was here?"

"I don't know. Did she even end up on the ship?"

Bastila sighed. "Well, we'll see her again. I owe her money."

Canderous polished the silver helmet lying on the workbench in front of him. Finally, it was finished. Bastila turned to leave, but instead looked at Canderous, who was solemnly repairing another dingy piece of armor, and said, "Look, Canderous..."

"Yeah? What?"

"Thanks for carrying me here."

Canderous smirked. "No problem, Jedi. Sorry I carried you like a dead boma."

"It's all right. Who knows? Maybe all the back-stretching even made me taller."

Canderous shook his head and looked over at Bastila with a cool, iron-eyed look. She flashed her own slight smile at him and walked away.


	12. Enter the Machines

**Chapter 12: Enter the Machines**

_Bastila_

"You've been able to hide her all this time, huh?" Carth shook his head as the quartet walked into Bastila's house.

"Nice place," complimented Revan. "Salaries must really be up since I last joined the Order."

Bastila led them through her spacious home towards a darker area. "It was my grandmother's estate," she explained. "It went to me just after we all split up."

There appeared to be nothing but blackness ahead, but Bastila switched on a light. Revan's face lit up as well as she saw the _Ebon Hawk_ docked before her in all its scrappy dignity. Then she heard a series of warm and familiar blips from behind her, and Revan spun around with a happily surprised gasp.

"T3!" she exclaimed. "Nice to have you with us once more."

The energetic astromech droid chirped happily, whirring as it rolled forward through the doorway in which it stood.

"Dooo-WIP?" inquired T3-M4.

"I'll try and explain later, T3," Revan answered. "We should probably get on the _Hawk_.

Bastila unsealed the glass doors between them and the ship. As the group moved towards her, Bastila shot a surreptitious look at Canderous. What was she sensing from him that worried her so much?

Bastila shook off the fear. She was probably just experiencing quite a bit of paranoia, what with being possessed and attached by these True Sith.

"That awful HK droid is on the _Hawk_ as well," she commented to Revan. "It's been violently looking forward to seeing you again."

Revan acknowledged this, and stayed silent.

Bastila communicated a sense of concern to Revan mentally. Revan returned a feeling of calm. How these machines could inspire such reverence in anyone confounded Bastila. Even as useful as they had been for Revan, there was quite an irony in that machines could evoke such feeling.

As they reached the _Ebon Hawk_, Bastila watched Revan, who was obviously quite awe-stricken, touch the poles connected to the boarding ramp almost worshipfully. Bastila noticed that both Carth and Canderous were totally fixed on this solemn act, though Bastila shook her head and sighed. Was there really any time for this?

Revan walked up the boarding ramp without a single sound, and the others followed. Bastila boarded last, watching the sentiment with which Carth, Canderous, and even T3 moved into the _Hawk_.

And they thought _she _could be odd.

_

* * *

Canderous_

Nothing had changed. Even the swoop bike was still there in the garage, near the workbench. Canderous knew that place well, that place that had been almost like home to him on his first journey with Revan. He would stand right there, HK-47 by his side. The two had shared a mutual respect for each others' desire to weed out the weak and defend the strong, like Revan. Of course, HK-47 had never given much credence wo the Mandalorian ideal of honor. In turn, Canderous thought the droid's bloodlust to be a bit excessive. Still, the two had coexisted peacefully enough.

Canderous noticed that Bastila's cleaning girl, who had reappeared, significantly disgruntled, as they returned to Bastila's house, had brought Canderous' possessions onto the workbench: a large handful of stims and the pewter armor that Canderous was working on so diligently.

Leaving this room, Canderous turned and walked back towards the starboard dormitory. Searching beneath the beds, he found that his stash of hyper-adrenal stimulants was still hidden securely. He took the aged stims, wondering if the had fermented by now, and smirked to himself.

_Bring it on, Sith,_ he thought to himself. Pocketing the stims, he returned to the garage, ready to continue work on the armor, when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"Statement: My Master has requested that all the meatbags join her, the astromech, and myself in the main hold immediately."

Canderous grunted. _This_ sounded exciting.

"Eager threat: My Master may be a patient meatbag," continued the assassin droid, "but I can assure you that I am not. If you do not advance to the main hold immediately, I will be forced to-"

Canderous turned. "Aw, come on, HK, you wouldn't hurt an old companion, would you?"

HK-47 looked the muscular Mandalorian over. "Apology: Why, meatbag Ordo! I had not realized that it was you, as I do find all meatbags to be so dreadfully similar. In that case, I shall rephrase my command."

HK straightened up his slender bronze physique and began again.

"Request: Please, esteemed Mandalorian meatbag, the Master expects your presence in the Main Hold right away."

Canderous looked around the room, recalling all the conversations he had had here, all the times Revan had run frazzled to the workbench, desperately trying to jam an energy cell upside down into a vibroblade or stuff an underlay straight into a piece of heavy armor. The only times she had not struggled at all were when she was elegantly restructuring a lightsaber.

That knowledge had seemed to come as easily to Revan as breathing. It became almosta graceful motion as Revan would slide open her lightsaber, exchanging one rough crystal for a stronger stone.

"Irritated Repetition:" HK began again. "Please report to the Main Hold. Now, meatbag."

Canderous shoved those recollections in his mind for another time. A quieter time.

There were so many recollections, though Canderous. Too many for this ship to even hold.

_

* * *

Revan_

"So," concluded Revan, we're just going on a little excursion over to Bakura, all right? Any questions?"

There obviously were, but no one spoke. Revan turned to Carth, who shrugged. Obviously everyone had too much tact to question Revan out in the open.

Except for Canderous.

"Rev, you're a great Jedi," he began, "but that also makes you a terrible-"

Revan gave Canderous a long, melting stare, and he realized how much she did not want to discuss this right now.

"No questions," he grumbled.

Revan scanned the rest of them.

"Good. That's all," she said.

_

* * *

Bastila_

Bastila worked alongside Carth, keeping the ship's course monitored and its systems stable.

From the other side of the wall separating the two, Carth spoke nervously. "Bastila," he started timidly.

"Yes, Cart?" she replied calmly, masking her discomfort regarding the question that she knew he was about to ask.

"What... what is she hiding from me?"

Bastila sighed. "Trust issues again, Carth?"

"I mean it. I know I've got a reputation for paranoia, but come on- I'm usually right. And she _is_ an awful liar."

Bastila said nothing. Carth waited for an acknowledgment, some kind of answer, but all he received was Bastila's silence.

"So I _am_ right," Carth answered for himself. "This is more serious than I thought, isn't it?"

Bastila nodded. She did not know, nor did she care, if Carth could see it. Somehow, probably in the most terrible way possible, Carth would discover for himself exactly how serious Revan's journey was. Neither of the pair piloting the ship right now, Bastila felt, would ever learn the whole of it.

"Carth," Bastila finally said pleadingly, "please... You truly love her, do you not?"

"I sure hope that was a rhetorical question."

"Then please, don't ask any more questions. Especially not to her. I am sorry, Carth, but she can't doubt this mission. There is more resting on the fate of this than either of us know, and I swear, someday you will know how much."

_If we all make it out of this, _Bastila thought gloomily.

_

* * *

Should not have lied._

_Should not have kept coming, little Jedi._

_You do not know what it is you trespass against._

_And all will pay._

_

* * *

Canderous_

Polishing the left arm of the silver armor, Canderous turned his head sharply as he heard Revan spring to her feet.

Alert from the stims he had used at the beginning of this shift, Canderous dashed towards the dormitory.

Bastila was, as usual, heavily sleeping, but Revan was standing, staring blankly at nothing in particular. Canderous moved slowly towards her, putting his hands on her trembling shoulders. He tilted up her head and looked into her eyes, but there was a glaze there, and Canderous could barely see a trace of Revan within those hollow eyes.

"Rev," he whispered, "are you o-"

"Back!" exclaimed Revan. Her voice was hoarse and unnatural. "They... they're back for me... and this time..."

Revan gripped Canderous' wrists painfully. Then she shut her eyes, and her grip loosened. As she opened her eyes again, Canderous could tell that she was back to normal again, but significantly weaker.

"Oh..." she murmured, "it's you."

Revan collapsed. Canderous caught her and lifted her tightly curled body out to the medical bay, where he lay her on the bed there and pumped some stims into her slender wrist.

"You'll wake up if it kills you," he muttered. "I want some answers."


	13. How Do You Sleep?

**Chapter 13: How Do You Sleep?**

_Canderous_

"And they've been haunting my dreams," finished Revan. Her eyes were bloodshot from a minimal nightmarish sleep as she sipped the strong caffa keeping her from returning to those nightmares.

"And that's why you're awake now," concluded Canderous.

Revan nodded. She looked down into the steaming drink. "Feel free to leave once we get to Bakura. I won't hold it against you."

Canderous gripped Revan's weak hand firmly. "Rev, when you told me who you were, I swore to stay with you to the end. And a Mandalorian doesn't go back on his word like that. You've always been up for a little brawl against the Sith, and so have I. You're not getting rid of me _that_ easily."

Revan grinned, her immediate fears assuaged.

"Thanks, Canderous," Revan began. "I-"

Revan slammed forward into the Mandalorian, who, in turn, slammed back into the wall as the ship rocked. A sinking feeling made Canderous suddenly nauseous. Judging by the look on Revan's face, she had the same sensation.

"Get Carth and Bastila," Revan ordered. "And the droids. I'm going to the cockpit."

Canderous nodded and shot away. From his vest, he pulled out some hyper-adrenal alacrity stims.

_Perfect,_ he thought. _If _anything_ can wake Bastila..._

_

* * *

Revan_

It was as she feared.

Revan was not surprised, though. It was as though whenever she had those dreams, the Sith were nearby. Sometimes it was in spirit, sometimes- as now- in huge, invisible ships. She swore under her breath.

"Like I couldn't be doing something else right now," she muttered. "Carth was practically lined up for that promotion, too."

"... boma beast, and now this!" complained Bastila as she, Canderous, and Carth entered the cockpit.

"Sorry," said Canderous, half-listening. "I owe you double."

Bastila was rubbing a couple of fresh bruises on her wrists. "Some wake-up call," she grunted.

Carth, who had looked dazed, suddenly shot to attention.

"It can't be!" he gasped. "We've got to get out of here." Carth leaned forward to start punching buttons.

"No." Revan put her hands on Carth's shoulder, standing herself up straight. He put his arm around her waist.

"Just don't get us blown into a million tiny pieces," he whispered in her ear. "Please."

Revan jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

Bastila squinted out into the distance. "There's nothing there," she yawned. Canderous groaned.

Then the voices began to snake through Revan's head again, as she knew they would. "Carth," she grunted, "open a channel for them."

A hissing language came through the ship, gradually making sense to Revan, as if the language was molding to fit her ears, her mind.

"_Don't go."_

"Please move," requested Revan. Everyone looked at her strangely. Revan realized that she must be speaking the Sith language. She had not realized that she remembered it so well. "We need to reach Bakura."

"_We warned you that you would suffer."_

"I won't let you hurt them. You only want me."

"_You know nothing of what we want."_

"What _do_ you want, then?"

Revan heard a strange, cackling laughter over the channel. She set her jaw and collected herself.

"You will deal with me later," she said in her most persuasive tone. "What good would it do to destroy me in a burst of flame while you're in the charted galaxy. All the scientists in the Republic could track the fire to your ship. Then your cloaking would be pointless."

There was silence, then a slight cackling.

"_You know nothing of our technology, either. In fact,"_ the voices said with a chilling tone, _"let's give you a little lesson. See how you fare against smaller vessels."_

Revan switched the channel off immediately and ran to the Hawk's quadlaser.

"Brace yourself," she yelled behind her. "This could be interesting."

_

* * *

Canderous_

They all sat, quietly, holding on to whatever was convenient. The turret's blasts shot into what looked like a void, hitting small targets and causing slight explosions that seemed to be in the middle of space.

"So," began Carth awkwardly, "what was that language she was speaking?"

"Sounded like a bunch of hissing and gurgling to me," answered Canderous.

Bastila stared out in front of her, paler than usual.

"Sith," she replied softly to Carth. "An ancient language of the Sith."

Carth looked at her and arched an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

Bastila nodded. "Haven't heard Sith since... since Malak."

Carth and Canderous shot each other worried looks. Bastila rubbed her evidently aching head.

"I'm fine," she reassured them limply. "We'd better just... brace ourselves."

The ship shuddered. With a final explosion in front of them, Canderous looked down at the radar. All of the smaller targets that had previously dotted the screen were gone, leaving only one invisible monstrosity.

Revan ran back into the cockpit, hands still twitching. As she knelt down beside Carth, the latter kissed her on the forehead. "Good job," Carth said, putting an arm around Revan.

"Congratulate her later," Canderous snapped. "Rev, get back over to the controls and figure out what we do next."

Bastila gave a quick, strange look at the other three, then got up and walked away.

"Is she okay," asked Revan as soon as Bastila had disappeared. Both men shrugged. Revan nodded understandingly, used to this Jedi behavior by now.

"Open a channel," commanded Revan, pointing at Carth. Without hesitation, he did so.

Hissing poured in through the cockpit. Canderous sealed off the room, so as not to evoke any more odd reactions from Bastila regarding the Sith language.

Revan reverted to that language again, the serpentine sounds slithering out of her mouth almost gracefully. Revan remained calm, though Canderous noticed how her chest was rising and falling with increasing rapidity.

_Calm down, Rev,_ he thought. _Just hang in there._

Finally, the hissing ended on both sides of the channel. Revan nodded at Carth to switch off the comm signal. She let out a ragged sigh of relief as she leaned against the cockpit door.

"Well?" asked Canderous nervously. Revan nodded, then moved away from the door so that Canderous could open it.

She turned and walked away, still shaking, in the same direction that Bastila had just gone.


	14. Crash Course

**Chapter 14: Crash Course**

_Revan_

She could not get their words out of her head.

_We'll come for you,_ they had said. _And for her. For all the ones you care about._

Revan recited the Jedi Code under her breath as she walked towards the dormitory, trying futilely to banish the voices.

"There is no emotion..."

_Little Jedi, how naïve you still are._

"There is peace..."

_Suffer. Everyone will suffer._

The voices were beginning to overpower her. She blocked them out and shut her mouth, reminding herself that there were no voices here. It was all in her head... for now.

Bastila was sitting on her bed, twisting strands of her hair between her slender fingers.

"I... I'm sorry for running out like that," she mumbled, staring at the ground. "I haven't heard that... language for so long..."

Revan sat down opposite Bastila, staring at the same spot on the floor as the other Jedi.

"I know. You don't really need to be sorry."

Bastila shrugged. Cold filled the air around them, setting into their bones like a disease. There was an eerie silence before Revan spoke again.

"Did you understand it?"

Bastila sighed. "Yes. Some of it."

Revan nodded somberly and sighed shakily.

Canderous walked into the dormitory. He looked from one Jedi to the other and said dryly, "So this is how Jedi party. Makes me proud to be a Mandalorian."

No one moved.

"Anyway," Canderous continued, regardless, "Onasi's pacing out here like a mother kinrath, and the assassin droid wants to know why I didn't come and wake it up."

"Thought you did," muttered Revan.

"Nah, Bastila shoved me past the droids after I... woke her."

Bastila rubbed her arm where the injections had been, but made no other movement.

"So what do you want me to do for you, Canderous?" asked Revan. Bastila crossed and uncrossed her legs, looking uncomfortable in every position.

"Quiet down your wife out there or I'll make you a widow. Kind of."

Revan fingered the chain around her neck. _Kind of_. She sighed. Maybe it would be 'kind of' for even longer than she had imagined. Standing, she thought painfully of how much she was keeping from Carth.

"Hey," said Canderous as she passed him to leave, "don't get all melodramatic on me. Show Onasi who wears the robes in your relationship before he _really_ starts getting on my nerves."

Revan made a minor attempt to smile. Leaving the dormitory, she absent-mindedly passed HK, who said, "Protest: Master! You did not activate me to fight this unknown ship, and now I've had to listen to that meatbag drone on in a whining monotone for what seems like hours just to be able to piece together the entire encounter! I object to this utter dismissal of my urges... and my needs!"

"Sorry," said Revan, "I thought Canderous got you up. I told him to... but there were complications. He kind of dropped about five stims straight into Bastila's arms and she chased him away pretty quickly."

"Begrudging Acceptance: All right, master. I'm sure I understand."

HK's ruby-red photoreceptors seemed to glow with irritation. Revan could tell from the stiffness of HK's bronze body that it was quite bent out of shape over this matter. Revan thought she heard it make a sighing noise as she left the room, but she decided to leave the droid to its sulking.

Carth was already walking briskly down the corridor between cockpit and hold when Revan got there, and he gripped her firmly by the shoulders, practically shaking her with the intensity of his grip. This, however, did not compare to the intensity of Carth's molten eyes as they poured down into Revan's.

"What's going on?" he asked. "I need answers. I need to know what it is we're dealing with."

Revan softly pried his hands off of her arms, gently holding his strong fingers. "I don't know yet, Carth," she whispered. His melancholy eyes softened slightly, but they were still fiery and restless. Carth pulled Revan to him tightly, with one hand on her head and the other on her back.

Revan put her arms around Carth's neck. "I know this is hard," she said against his chest. "I took you away from everything, and you don't even know why. And I don't, really, either."

"Don't apologize. I was the one who begged to come, remember? And if I hadn't been here, who would've carried you to the hospital, huh?" Carth grinned, closing his eyes. "I just wish you didn't have to deal with these Sith anymore. I really thought we were done with that."

Revan sighed, thinking, _Oh, Carth, we never even began.

* * *

Bastila_

"So _that's_ Bakura?" chided Canderous incredulously from behind Bastila. "About as backwater a planet as any, looks like. Which is pretty much what I'd expect from a new colony like Bakura. You know, during the wars-"

"Save it," snapped Bastila. "I'm not Revan. I do actually have better things to do than to indulge you and your war stories."

Canderous walked away. Bastila looked down at the swampy planet before her, shaking her head, and attempted once more to contact the planet below.

The base signaled back. _Finally,_ thought Bastila.

"Bakuran base, this is the _Ebon Hawk_ requesting landing permission for resupply. Do you read me?"

A static-laced transmission came back from the planet below. "_Hawk_... you... cleared for..."

"I hope that meant we can land without them shooting us down," Bastila muttered to herself. "And I hope I can actually land this thing alone. Why those two have to disappear now, of all times, is beyond me."

Slowly, Bastila reached out at levers and buttons, trusting her Force-guided intuition to land the _Hawk_ safely. She closed her eyes, concentrating so much on the landing that when Canderous, now standing behind her, scoffed at this technique, it startled Bastila. Her thought process snapped, and the ship began to accelerate.

"Great job," she yelled at Canderous. "If you want me dead this badly, you could just come out and say so!"

"Judging by your landing tactics,"retorted Canderous, "I'd say you'd be more than willing to do the job for me!"

Desperately, Canderous and Bastila tried to figure out how to land. Bastila pulled the _Hawk_ away from Bakura's colony, leading it instead to the forested marches.

"You might want to sit down now," she said calmly to Canderous, who was still feverishly working to save their landing. "Or else you can go flying into the window. Your choice."

Canderous sat, gripping the sides of his seat with tense fists. Bakura grew closer. Bastila still clung to the steering in a frantic attempt to avoid a calamity. She closed her eyes and pulled instinctively at the levers before her until they were parallel to the planet's surface.

As the _Hawk_ landed, both Bastila and Canderous let out sighs of relief to still be in one piece. Too drained to even argue about whose fault it was, they glared at each other. Canderous shrugged, got up, and walked away. Bastila closed her eyes, looked upwards, and laughed.  
_

* * *

Revan_

"Honestly, you two," Carth said sternly to Canderous and Bastila as Revan finished slipping on an energy shield, "can't I trust you for even half an hour unsupervised?"

Bastila glared at Canderous, who looked up contemptuously at Carth. Revan came up behind Carth and slid her arms around his neck. "Come on, Carth," she purred, "I think they get it."

"Yeah, well, that doesn't exactly help the fact that I have some minor repairs to make. If you explore Bakura anytime soon, you do it with these two, because I'm gonna need those droids.

Revan conceded. "Well, you two, it'll be just like old times."

"Not really. You always had Onasi along in 'old times,'" pointed out Canderous.

"Whatever," sighed Revan, pushing the energy shields their way. "Rest of the equipment's in the cargo hold."

Thankfully, Bastila and Canderous had little to dispute over in the way of armor, and the three left for the forests of Bakura.

"Never in a thousand years will they make these swamps habitable," muttered Canderous, lifting his boot out of a particularly muddy piece of land.

"Stranger things have happened," shot Bastila.

"Yeah, like the Republic winning the Wars."

"You've got to be-"

"Hey!" shouted Revan. "That's enough back there! Bastila, you're on my left, Canderous on my right. And I don't want a single word out of either of you unless it's a useful one."

They walked along in a heavy, stagnant silence, through the rustling leaves of thick jungle flora, avoiding the large avians dotting the tree, which seemed much too menacing to be entirely harmless.

Bastila hesitantly began to speak. "Does... does anyone know where we're going?"

Revan shrugged. "Hopefully, to the base. If you think you know, feel free to say something."

Canderous stopped suddenly. Noticing this, the Jedi followed suit, looking around apprehensively. They heard, as Canderous had before them, a rustling nearby that sounded like some kind of animal. As Revan tried to pinpoint the location of the sound, she realized suddenly that they were completely surrounded.

Out of the dense foliage crawled a circle of four-legged beasts with sharp-looking claws and sleek emerald fur. Their eyes gleamed, as though these three were their sport, as if hunting them was very entertaining.

Bastila and Revan drew out their respective lightsabers. Bastila's golden double blades whirred through the air, but the creatures were too agile, too limber to be caught by a blow from the weapon. Revan swung her own violet sabers, but her luck was the same.

The creatures attacked, and Revan and her companions retaliated. The creatures seemed, however, to be primarily attacking Revan, who was gradually being bloodied around the waist. Canderous saw how weak she was as she staggered clumsily, and he grabbed her around the waist, pressing the wound tightly to him.

"Hold on, Rev," he yelled above the shots of his heavy repeater and Bastila's double-sided lightsaber. "We're almost through!"

Revan began to see only darkness. She had to stay awake, to help fend off these monsters. Weakly, she tried to break free from Canderous, but his protective grasp was immovable.

"Don't try to fight," he advised. "We'll handle this."

Revan was unaware of the battle's end, seeing only swirls of the blurred background around her. Canderous' "Can you walk?" held little meaning for Revan as it echoed distantly. She could still feel that he was holding her barely-conscious body in one strong arm, but she began to feel detached from the safety of that body.

Then, she felt nothing.


	15. Scheme a Little Scheme

**Chapter 15:**

_Revan_

Opening her eyes, Revan saw blurred faces swimming above her. She watched as liquid features solidified and became distinct faces. Feeling returned to her body gradually, causing her to gasp and tense her limbs.

"Don't struggle," came Bastila's voice. Her face appeared above Revan, as calm as it always was. "We're at the base. While you were unconscious, I ran through the jungles to get help. Canderous waited with you, just in case he needed to fend off any more of those beasts. We decided that it would probably be unwise to move you ourselves."

Revan's mouth twitched as she attempted to smile. "Thnks." Her brow furrowed in thought. "Crth?"

"We contacted Carth on the _Hawk_. He'll be here."

"Cndrs?"

"He took some damage back there. He's just getting checked out. He's not very happy about it, either." Bastila sat down beside the hospital bed. "He feels a little guilty, I think. I probably should, too. Your vitals are definitely stabilizing, though. You're fine. Or you will be soon."

Revan shut her eyes. Bastila was talking too quickly for Revan's drowsy mind to totally comprehend. Carth was coming, though, and hopefully would be safer than they had been on their trek through the jungles.

Suddenly, a burst of pain rushed to Revan's side. She doubled over, her eyes wide. Bastila jumped up, putting her hands on Revan's bandaged waist. Revan could tell that Bastila was concentrating all of her mind on it, trying to heal the pain. Gradually, Revan relaxed her curled body. She uttered a sound that was meant as a 'thanks,' and was close to falling back into a weary sleep when she heard Carth's voice.

"Bastila," he called from far away, and he walked into the room. Revan's vision was getting blurry, and she knew that moving right now would hurt.

Carth knelt down in front of Revan, and she could barely see him learly. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey, beautiful," Carth whispered, "you okay?"

Revan nodded. "Just need... sleep."

Carth looked up. Bastila reassured him that Revan would be fine.

"Okay, gorgeous," Carth murmured. "You go ahead. I'll be waiting."

Revan slipped back into slumber without another argument.  
_

* * *

Canderous_

"I'm fine. I _need_ to get out of here, got it?"

The doctor looked at Canderous sternly. "You're done here," he admitted, readjusting a green lekku. "You check out. Just don't overexert yourself. Lucky you've got that implant thing. Which probably isn't completely legal, but who am I to judge?"

Canderous fixed his steely gaze on the physician. "So I can _go_. Right?"

The Twi'lek nodded, sighing. Canderous left immediately. He walked briskly down the corridor to where Revan was by following Bastila's voice.

"Onasi beat me here?" said Canderous in mock disgust. "I _knew_ that examination was taking forever. How is she?"

"She'll be fine," Bastila repeated mechanically. "She's sleeping."

Canderous sat on a chair next to where Carth knelt, looking over Revan. Her waist was stiffly bound, and some of the blood had soaked through. Canderous' own hand still carried some of that blood. Looking at the wound made him grimace, remembering how after Bastila had left, he had had to watch her bleeding on the ground, holding her head up as he kept trying to halt the red liquid from pooling around her, stanching the blood with his strong hand and Revan's Jedi robes.

"Hey," said Carth, disrupting Canderous' horrible memory, "what's wrong?"

Canderous looked at the fear on Carth's face and paused, speechless.

"She..." Canderous began. He looked from Carth's anguished features to Revan, who slept peacefully, and back. "She's fine, Onasi. She always is."  
_

* * *

Bastila_

Uneasy vibrations moved through the room as Carth and Canderous periodically checked on the sleeping Revan. It became impossible for Bastila to center herself in the midst of such base emotions and worries. In turn, this worried Bastila: if she could not revive Revan quickly, would Revan even wake up before the Sith struck again? Or at all? Revan's condition was much worse than Bastila had told Carth and Canderous, and she was not about to brake her promise to them that she would heal soon. _Maybe if those two didn't keep sticking their heads in here,_ thought Bastila irritatedly. _I'll tell you how Revan's going to be if you don't stop harassing us._

Finally, it seemed as though Carth and Canderous were done pestering Bastila, and she began to collect her energies, as though packing all the power she had into a compact wad, concentrated and potent. Bastila focused on this power, transferring it to Revan in the form of healing, utilizing the bond they had to make the healing more acute than an ordinary healing. Revan's sleeping body absorbed this energy, rolling over to face Bastila as though for more. Her eyelids fluttered. Bastila tried to keep restoring Revan's energy as the latter's glazed eyes began to become alert and her body began to twitch.

"Revan?" Bastila whispered weakly, trying not to attract the attention of Carth or Canderous.

"How... how am I?" asked Revan.

"You're fine," Bastila assured her with a smile. "You really are, this time, too."

Revan was still unable to sit up, but her eyes were clear, and she was finally coherent again.

"So what's going on?"

"Not much. Do you know where we are? And what happened before you came here?"

"We were on Bakura. I was... we were fighting. Animals. They ripped my side open. Canderous held me up. Then... I don't know. I felt like I was out of my body."

"Good," breathed Bastila. "Memory seems fine, anyway."

"And then I woke up once, right? And I saw Carth... was it a dream?"

Carth walked in. "No, it happened," he said, kneeling down to embrace Revan. Canderous stepped in after Carth, hanging back in the door frame. "You were out for so long," Bastila heard Carth murmur to Revan. "Had me worried." Revan mumbled something back to him, but as Bastila edged away, she could not hear it.

"I thought you two had forgotten about us," Bastila said to Canderous, "as you finally stopped barging in every thirty seconds."

"Far from it," Canderous sighed. "I've never seen anyone talk as much as Onasi when they have a drink in front of them."

"So that's where you were? Getting Carth to drown all his sorrows in juma juice?"

"Trying, anyway," corrected Canderous. "He wouldn't touch the stuff. Just kept talking about anything he could think of. I got so many strange looks that I finally had to take him out."

"Didn't seem to take very long."

"Yeah, this base isn't very big. Probably everyone around here now has heard of the Mandalorian and his babbling lunatic friend."

Bastila looked over at Carth and Revan. Carth had laid the side of his face down, gazing squarely into Revan's eyes. Revan was still weak, but whatever she was able to say seemed to be very amusing to Carth. When Bastila looked back at Canderous, it seemed that he was also watching the two quite intently.

A shiver traversed Bastila's spine, and she looked warily at Canderous. Finally, he noticed, turning to her.

"What?"

"Nothing. Sorry."

Quickly, Bastila rushed over to Revan's side. "I hate to break this up," she began, interrupting Carth and Revan, who seemed deeply absorbed with each others' eyes, "but we should probably decide on a plan of action now, while you're recuperating."

Revan sighed. "We're going to resupply. Are the droids still on the ship?"

"Yeah," answered Carth.

"Do you think I could get T3 out here before I'm out of the hospital?"

"Onasi'll get the droids," Canderous called out. "It'll be good for him to get some exercise." Carth rolled his eyes, but got up and left for the _Hawk_ all the same.

'You've got that one trained pretty well," quipped Canderous, moving closer to Bastila and Revan. "Does he know 'shake?'"

"Nice to see you, too, Canderous."

"I knew you'd pull through, Rev. How're you doing?"

"Could be better," Revan admitted. "Like my head could stop throbbing. Or maybe the lights could stop humming so loud. And the feeling could come back to my legs. Otherwise, I'm fine."

"Glad to hear it. I expect to see you shooting up rancors by tomorrow, then."

"Whatever you say."

"So, Revan," Bastila interrupted abruptly, almost nervously, "where after Bakura?"

"It isn't where we go, it's how we get there that matters. I say we just run around here for a while. You know, as soon as I can run again."

Bastila nodded. "Sounds good. Carth needs to finish up the repairs, anyhow."

"Then we'll wait," Revan concluded.  
_

* * *

Revan_

T3 rolled towards Revan as she lay in bed, alone beneath the dim light. Satisfied that no one but the droid was there, Revan began to talk to it.

"T3, the voices are back. While I was unconscious, they spoke to me... and I know where I'm going now."

"Dwoo?"

Revan's veins felt like they were filled with ice as she said the name. "Malachor V, T3. I have to go back there. And from there... who knows? Somewhere far away, T3, that's all I'm certain of. I'm going somewhere..." she bit her lip, "where I can't take them. Not... not even Carth. Or you. It could destroy me, T3, but there is a force out there that will destroy us all if I don't leave here. I won't put the rest of you in danger, T3. I already owe you all so much..."

"Dweet?" inquired T3.

"I need you to help me... get everyone else away."

T3 backed away slightly.

"I know. I don't want to. But I don't want anyone to get hurt."

T3 whirred quietly in concession.

"Good. Just don't tell anyone about these conversations. We've got a lot to plan..."


	16. Sendoff

**Chapter 16: Sendoff**

_Too late, Jedi_

_We warned you_

_Now come out and play_

_

* * *

Revan_

These nightmares barely fazed her now.

Revan was, after a week, finally up and on her feet again. The Bakuran base had been more than hospitable, even lending them a technician when Carth finally resorted to whacking random objects with a hydrospanner in an attempt to fix the _Ebon Hawk_. Everything was fully stocked, almost completely fixed, and would soon be ready to go whenever Revan was.

Revan, however, had much to do here.

She walked into the cantina, looking like an average spacer, and sat down, not intending to drink anything, but rather to scrounge some information.

"Hey," said an unshaven settler. "New around here? First drink's on me."

As the settler flagged down the bartender, Revan smiled and thanked the man politely.

"Hey," he said, "no problem. Name's Oren Minso. You came at a pretty slow time o' the year around here... usually, there's a buncha' vets from the Mandalorian Wars grousin' about... 'bout whatever, really."

"Yeah?" said Revan, acting nonchalant. "How do they get out here? I crashed, myself."

"Heh. You that spacer that came in the _Hawk_. Yeah, I've seen her before, probably about three owners before you had 'er. Well, spacer, a lot of 'em are like you... supplies. There're some shuttles, though... west end of the base. Go all over... Coruscant, Manaan, Nar Shaddaa... pretty much anywhere."

"I see." Revan made her excuses as soon as the settler began to open his mouth again, and moved out to find these westerly shuttles before another scruffy colonist could buy her any more of those terrible smoke-tasting drinks.

_

* * *

Carth_

"Good. Thanks for all this," Carth said to the technician. The boy looked even younger than Dustil, Carth reflected. _How frightening._ With a feeling of obsoleteness, Carth walked into the cargo hold, where T3 was working.

"T3," Carth called. The droid turned his photoreceptor upwards to look at him. He beeped in acknowledgment, moving closer to Carth.

"T3, there's not much time- I've seen that expression on her face before," Carth said urgently, looking around to make sure no one was there. "Now, I don't know where she's planning on going, but it's dangerous..."

_

* * *

Canderous_

He knew what she was doing, of course.

Canderous was not about to abandon Revan that easily, however. She could leave the others behind and say it was out of 'mercy,' but there was no good reason that Canderous should not keep following, and he knew that. He thought that Revan probably knew that, too, and that would be Canderous' ticket out to wherever she was planning on going.

Canderous also knew that Revan was looking at the shuttle bays. An old Mandalorian comrade of his, in fact, had overheard her talking about them in the cantina. If this was some other planet, it would have worried Canderous, but he knew Bakura. He knew that there were a lot more incoming shuttles than outgoing, and that a lot more people wanted to leave this mudhole of a planet once they arrived than wanted to stay. Even if Revan wanted to leave via the shuttles, no mere bribe could get her in, and no Jedi power could, either. She would be forced to make reservations at least a day in advance. In the time between now and then, Canderous figured, he would have his chances to comprehend what was going on.

Of course, the Force always seemed to twist things for Revan a little more than they did for most people, even most Jedi. This was Canderous' only concern. He hated having on gamble on this, but he had no choice. On any other planet, he would have contacts, influence. On Bakura, all he had was a whole lot of chance.

_I wonder if the Force works in your favor if you're a Mandalorian,_ he thought to himself as he scrubbed a silver piece of leg armor at the workbench. _She should know by now,_ he mused. "She can't get rid of me that easily."

"Query: To whom are you speaking, meatbag?"

"Hm?" Canderous turned around. He had forgotten that the droid was there. HK's head tilted inquisitively. "No one, droid," said the Mandalorian gruffly, "and certainly not you. Got it?"

"Response: Most definitely, meatbag."

"Good."

Canderous returned to his armor-polishing, only to be interrupted a second time.

"Hesitant Query: If I may, Mandalorian meatbag, what is the significance of the armor? It appears to be rather old and dented.

"Proud Statement: My own, built-in body armor, on the other hand, is-"

"Thank you, HK. I know about your armor."

"Resignation: Very well. Returning to the question at hand..."

Canderous thought about how best to put it. Really, he would rather not talk about it if he could, and he generally did not trust assassin droids as much as the assassin droids in question would like.

"This armor... reminds me of my goals. It reminds me why I'm still here."

"Query: Here as opposed to what?"

"Here as opposed to doing mercenary work on Nar Shaddaa. Here as opposed to dead in the wars or facedown and drunk in the gutters of any other planet. Here, serving her."

"Addendum: Here, doing something relatively useful."

"Exactly. I guess." The armor shone as Canderous turned a piece of it upside-down in his hands.

_Hopefully,_ he thought, _here for a while longer._

_

* * *

Bastila_

Everyone seemed unsettled. Bastila was no exception, influenced by Canderous' stubbornness, Revan's evasiveness, and Carth's worried air.

Revan, especially, seemed to be distancing herself from everyone lately. There was a shadow where Bastila could usually feel, to some extent, Revan's feelings, and it was as if Bastila could only feel the edge of Revan's presence. Whenever Bastila tried to talk to any of her other companions, though, they would all manage to avoid speaking to Bastila about it. Carth had repairs to do, Revan had arrangements to make, Canderous had people to stalk. Or polishing. Or whatever it was he was doing. Even T3 would dart around the question when Bastila approached the droid.

HK-47, of course, would listen for about a minute before labeling Bastila's comments as peacemongering. Then the droid would begin to use its 'veiled threats', preceding each one with that exact label. That did not remotely ease Bastila's fears, so she decided not to make the same mistake twice, and merely isolated herself from everyone except Revan herself.

Bastila got the feeling that Revan was not going to tell her anything, though. Revan did not make eye contact with anyone these days, even when it was Carth. It was not even the typical cryptic Jedi personality quirk, which Bastila was somewhat used to.

Now, all Bastila could do was to sit and meditate, hoping that by centering herself better, she might be able to reach Revan, to pull her out of whatever hole she was lowering herself into.

_

* * *

Revan_

Revan's main concern with all this planning was how small this base was. Word could easily get out about the shuttle tickets she was reserving or all the supplies Revan was ordering for the _Hawk_. There was a high risk that it would get back to Carth or Canderous in the cantina, and while Revan knew that this could set back her plans indefinitely, she could not help but feel that it would be liberating to tell the truth. _No matter how mad it would make Carth,_ she thought, toying with the Onasi crest around her neck and bringing it up to her lips.

She could not tell them, though. And that might hurt her even more than it would seem to hurt them, at first.

Revan heard T3s cheerful beeping from behinf her seat in the shuttle bay, making her mind return to the task at hand.

"Everything under control?" Revan asked. T3 beeped affirmatively.

With a sigh, Revan said, to no one in particular, "I hope they forgive me."

"Dwoooo."

Revan and T3 returned to the _Hawk_ under the vivid sunset. Revan tried to act unperturbed as she walked into the ship, but Carth's eyes almost made her break down and tell him her entire plan. Instead, she put her cold arms around him, and he kissed her passionately.

Revan took a closer look at the stress reflected in Carth's eyes, and she saw how much he loved her, maybe even unconditionally. She almost forgot what she was going to do to him the next morning. Instead, she focused on the moment, as she had once been able to do with such ease.

"Looking for something?" he joked as she kept staring into his eyes. She stroked the top of his head.

"Yeah, I think I lost my mind in there."

He laughed genuinely. "That's got to be one of the worst pick-up lines in the galaxy. And I should know."

"I'll bet it works, though." She grinned at him. Her eyes glittered.

"No question," he said, kissing her.

Carth lifted her up, and they went into the dormitory, forgetting everything that was happening around them and, for however long they could, letting it all melt out of their minds.

_

* * *

Bastila_

When Bastila snapped out of her meditation the next morning, she knew that Revan was somehow gone. She was completely unreachable to Bastila, at least. T3-M4 rolled into the room and began to hum excitedly, punctuating instructions occasionally by rolling back and forth. As Bastila realized what the droid was saying, a horrible thought came to her.

"Carth," she gasped. "Thanks, T3. I'll go to the shuttles now."

Bastila tried to keep her pace in check, but soon she was running towards the shuttle bay, hastily tucking her lightsaber into her belt.

Finally, Bastila made it to the shuttles. She reached out with all of her power for Revan, but found no sign of her. She did, however, find a horrible, familiar feeling as she searched and it seemed to slap her in the face.

She looked up, paralyzed. "Carth?" she called, looking for the source of that pain. Finally, she found him and ran towards him. His hands shook as his eyes kept reading and rereading a datapad, probably Revan's. HK-47 was nearby, silent for once as he sat near the clearly unstable Carth. Dnapping out of her shock, Bastila ran to them.

"HK," she demanded softly, not wanting to shatter Carth into a million psychological fragments, "where has she gone?"

Carth handed the datapad shakily to Bastila and buried his face in his hands. She read the note as her own hands shook.

_Carth, Bastila, HK, Canderous,_

_I have to leave for now. I'm sorry to all of you for making you come out here, for leaving like this. I don't expect you to fully understand why I'm doing this, but I'm going to Malachor V._

Bastila gasped.

_I don't think it was the Mandalorians who decided to attack the Republic; not truly. There was something else, something far deadlier that the Republic could not defeat. It was for this reason that the Republic was losing before the Jedi joined._

_Whatever it was, Malak and I found it, and it let us win. Now , I intend to find this destructive power again, to destroy it. Perhaps it _is_ the True Sith, but I can't know for certain yet. Be that as it may, it must be stopped._

_I know, almost certainly, that his will lead me outside the edge of the galaxy. I don't know how far or for how long, but I cannot take anyone I love or care about. That is why you are all here now, at the shuttle bays._

_Carth, I want you to wait for me, to never forget me. I love you, and that is why I can't take you. I will be back for you, I swear._

_I have left you all tickets to Coruscant, as you have found. From there, I have arranged for some of Carth's Republic friends to get you wherever you need to be. Your things are probably already on Coruscant, and if they aren't, then they will be soon._

_-Revan_

Bastila's jaw had dropped some time ago.

_Malachor V. _No wonder Carth was so shocked now.

As Bastila looked at the tickets stuck to the back of the datapad, she noticed that Canderous was not here, although he had been addressed in the datapad.

_No, _she thought. _How did he know?_

Shaking her head, Bastila said sympathetically to Carth, "We'd better get going. Please, Carth. She'll be back soon."

He looked at Bastila. The wounded look in his eyes struck Bastila like a blow to the stomach, and she gasped. Never had she seen Carth Onasi so helpless.

Silently, they rose. With HK-47 beside them and heads hanging low, they boarded the shuttle.


	17. And Then There Were Two

**Chapter 17: And Then There Were Two**

Revan stared out at the vastness stretching ahead of her, but all she could think of was that Carth would hate her. He probably did, was probably hating her right now.

But Revan would try to trust him. That was all she had right now, all that was going to sustain her for the foreseeable future, she imagined.

Revan leaned back in her seat and sighed heavily. She heard T3-M4 begin to roll into the cockpit, then quietly away with a soft "Dwooo."

"I can't believe I just left them there," Revan said to herself. "So stupid," she whispered, holding her forehead, "I'm so _stupid_."

"Tell me you did not just call yourself stupid, Revan."

Revan's eyes widened. She turned quickly as Canderous sat down in the adjacent co-pilot's chair. She covered her dropped jaw, unsure whether she was overjoyed or furious at the Mandalorian's audacity.

"You… wh… I sent you away!"

"Or so you thought."

"I abandoned you with a shuttle ticket on Bakura! I paid good money for that, Canderous!"

"But you forgot to give me my armor. So I came back for it, and you just took off without giving me a chance to run off and cry about you leaving me to the wolves on Coruscant! You're getting a bit careless, Rev, you know that?"

Revan blinked. She shuddered and pressed her eyes shut, but as she opened them, she discovered that he was still there. It was not, as she desperately hoped, a nightmare.

"You _can't_ be here," she groaned. "Why didn't you listen to me, Ordo? I thought you respected me."

"As a leader," Canderous corrected. "You weren't acting as a leader, though, Rev. You were acting with too much emotion. And you managed to fool them, Rev, because they were thinking with their emotions, too."

Revan glared at him, irritated at his uncanny logic.

"But you have no emotions," shot Revan.

"No, I just know when to hold them back. It's almost ironic… the Jedi really tend to think with more emotion than we Mandalorians… all this 'peace' and 'mercy'… all emotion."

Revan's faced flushed slightly.

"If it's any reassurance, Rev," Canderous added, "you did the right thing. If you hadn't sent them away… they were slowing you down, Rev. I don't argue with Bastila for my health, you know."

"So… you _wanted_ to tick them off."

"Not necessarily. I did want them to shut up, though. They weakened you. Having to defend Bastila… that's why that animal was able to take you down.

"I didn't _have_ to defend Bastila!"

"No? But you did. You always do."

"So how are _you_ supposed to _not _slow me down any differently than Carth and Bastila?"

Canderous' gaze hardened, and he stared straight into Revan's transfixed eyes. "Because I won't let you, Revan. Whether I have to defend you or eventually just leave myself, I will not let you fail."

Revan leaned back into her seat.

"Fine," she surrendered. "I won't stop you, Canderous."

Canderous smiled. "What made you think you could, anyway?"

Revan gave him an appreciative half-smile, and Canderous, satisfied, got up to leave.

"Canderous?" Revan called, staring ahead into space. She heard his solid footsteps stop.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"You don't have to thank me, Rev. You know I don't do that kind of thing."

"I know. But really, I think… maybe I understand you a little more now."

Canderous turned and left after a moment of contemplative silence.

Revan let tears flow softly down her face: for her fate, for her failure, for herself.

She doubted she would get another chance for a long while.

Revan grimaced at the flashing light on the radar screen, indicating what appeared to be a hulking vessel that just happened to be hailing her.

"What's going on?" asked Canderous darkly, walking into the main hold. Revan gestured at the signal and opened a channel.

"_Ebon Hawk_," said a hard, female voice. A hologram showed a young woman standing stiffly in a black uniform. Her hair was pulled back severely, and appeared to hold multiple colors, as though some strands of her sleek hair were aging prematurely. Her stance, as well, gave her the appearance of being much older than she probably was. "This is the _Serpentine_," the hologram continued. "We are requesting that you leave this vicinity immediately, or we will be forced to engage in offensive action."

Revan considered this, her expression inscrutable as multilingual curses flashed virulently through her head. Canderous squinted as he stared at the hologram.

"By what authority?" inquired Revan.

_I think you know_, Revan heard in reply. She gasped, causing Canderous to turn sharply as he tried to make out what was happening. Seeing Revan, with her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide as she tried to put everything together, Canderous realized that there was more here than he could see.

"Don't worry, Jedi," the hologram purred. "It's not _just_ me. Kinda like a party, isn't it? All this Force-sensitive energy bouncing around."

Revan's eyes narrowed. "Figures. _I_ have to deal with a Force-user who's cryptic _and_ sarcastic. Could my day get any better?"

The hologram did not seem amused.

"I will repeat my previous order, _Ebon Hawk_. Go back where you belong. You are in _our_ territory now."

"And when you say 'our'…"

_I think you know that, too_.

"Get _out_, Sith," Revan spat through clenched teeth.

"That's exactly what I was about to say to you, _Revan_." She used the name pointedly, almost insultingly.

The taunt, though, did not faze Revan. There was a tense, clinging silence, and then Revan felt a pain that locked onto skull. The pain dug, as though had jaws or massive claws burrowing, penetrating, trying to reach her mind.

Revan gripped her head, trying to control the intense pain inside it. The holographic girl laughed.

"That can't feel good, hmm, Revan? It'll all be over soon, though." The girl's eyes blazed. "Your head will pop like a melon, and it'll all be over for you, for your Mandalorian back there, and for your precious little stolen ship."

Revan let her energy build up, the pain inside her head burning, dense, tightly bound.

She shut her eyes and summoned all of the pain. Revan could hear the holographic youth and her crew shouting orders to each other to move in on the _Hawk_. Revan knew that she had one chance, and she was not about to waste it.

Revan's eyes shot open. The expression on the young woman's holographic face changed instantly, and her energy faltered.

Revan let go of the pain, sending it flying through the Force towards the woman, whose head flew backwards and crashed painfully against the wall behind her as Canderous and Revan watched. Three of the Sith vessel's crew ran towards the sprawled body, and Revan wiped the perspiration from her forehead. She switched off the hologram, closing the channel between the two ships. Revan turned to Canderous, who looked slightly cautious of Revan, though also vaguely impressed.

"Let's get out of here," panted Revan. "We haven't got a chance… not against that thing."

She ran into the cockpit, Canderous obediently following.

"She's a Sith?" Canderous spat.

"She's following the ways of the _True_ Sith, but I don't think she's one of them… I'm pretty sure they're a separate species. But she's certainly nearly as powerful."

"Hmm. Yeah, I guessed that. But she seems familiar."

"Really? I didn't recognize her… I think I'd remember if someone that strong had fought me before."

Revan stared worriedly out in front of her.

Canderous said, almost gruffly, "She's not as strong as you, Rev. You were holding your own back there."

Revan raised an eyebrow dubiously, but did not turn to look at Canderous.

"So," continued Canderous, "where are we headed?"

"Malachor V. But you knew that."

Canderous shrugged. "You never know. Traveling with you isn't predictable, Rev, I'll give you that."

Canderous walked off. Revan looked ahead and thought back on the power she had just witnessed. She was sure she would not be able to sleep for months.

Canderous wiped a cloth along the edge of his vibroblade. It glistened as he tossed it from hand to hand.

_True Sith_, he thought. _Like this trip isn't hard enough._

Going back to Malachor V was the last thing Canderous thought he would ever do. The decisive battle of the Wars, where Revan had finally defeated Mandalore, had been fought there. When Canderous had witnessed the glorious battle, so many years ago, it seemed, he had never imagined that one day, he would fight by Revan's side. She was the only one who ever could have rallied the Republic and led them to crush the fearless armies of the Mandalorians.

Even though Canderous felt no hostility towards Revan and the Republic, though, he could not help but feel wrong about going to Malachor. The planet was a graveyard now, a dead world ravaged by that final chaotic battle.

Canderous also felt a deep suspicion in Revan's lack of outrage upon finding Canderous onboard. She had certainly been frustrated by his contrary decision, but not quite enough to satisfy Canderous. He was sure that she had more plans to get rid of the Mandalorian, but he was absolutely stuck as to what they were—or how long it would be before Revan finally left Canderous for good. He had managed to catch her last time, but she had let her guard down on Bakura, with Carth and Bastila there. She had not known that planet, nor had she had the contacts there that Canderous had.

Now, one-on-one, Canderous did not have the same advantage over Revan. They were, Canderous guessed, on relatively equal footing here.

Reflecting on Revan's words, Canderous did feel a small twinge of guilt in disobeying Revan's wishes, even though he knew—or, at least, he thought he knew—that her decision was one of passion rather than logic.

Even so, was he right? Who was he to question such a superior being as Revan? Canderous shrugged. Either way, it did not matter now.

He was here. He was going to Malachor. And, just like last time at Malachor, there was no going back now. Everything would be decided here, he felt.

Just like last time.


	18. Malachor

**Chapter 18: Malachor**

Revan stared ahead, motionless, at the jagged rocks before her, the eerie, elusive light.

Malachor was just as she had left it.

Before the _Hawk_ landed, Revan had been struggling to remember precisely what the dead planet looked like. Now, floating memories crystallized in her mind, painful, bleeding memories of darkness, of sheer destruction.

This planet stirred up a feral part of Revan. She felt a carnal hunger here, an aching within her, though she had not even left the safety of the _Hawk_ yet.

Canderous walked into the cockpit almost silently. By his slow, gentle steps, Revan could tell that even the Mandalorian was stricken by the mere sight of Malachor.

With his voice wavering slightly, Canderous broke the silence.

"I…" he began silently. Revan had never heard him so affected. "It's… like a void. This place gives me the creeps, Rev. Let's get this finished, whatever we're here for."

"Stay here," said Revan tersely. "I'll be back."

"What? You think you're going alone now?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, right. You're not going anywhere yet, Rev. Not alone."

Revan stood and turned to walk past Canderous, who put a hand on Revan's shoulder as she attempted to brush past him. She shrugged it off and continued to walk, but Canderous grabbed her arm. Her eyes flashed as she whipped around to face him.

"No," she snapped. "I mean it. Canderous, I'm doing this alone. I can handle it."

The resolve in Revan's voice weakened Canderous' own, and, reluctantly, he slid his hand down to hers. Revan looked down at their entwined fingers, her cheeks flushed with any number of conflicting emotions.

"Be careful out there," Canderous warned. "And if you don't come back, I'll go and find you myself."

"Fair enough," said Revan quietly, disentangling her fingers from his.

Canderous watched Revan as she disappeared around the corner and off of the ship.

"Dwoooo."

"Yeah, I hope she comes back soon too," Canderous sighed to T3-M4. He turned to the adjacent droid.

"I can't believe I actually understood you," Canderous muttered, shaking his head.

* * *

Revan barely breathed as she traipsed over gaseous fissures and through rugged caves, wearing her breath mask and carefully cloaked so as to keep herself from the frequent eruptions of poison gas and malformed beasts. Revan walked down twisted paths until, finally, she found what she sought.

The Trayus Academy was menacing. Revan remembered it, a memory that sent icy chills down her spine. It had not been at the battle of Malachor V, but a few years later. Revan did not remember why she had been there, or what she had done there, but she felt that it was imperative for her to go there now, for whatever purpose.

Revan breathed deeply the dry wind, centering herself. The darkness stretching from the foreboding structure before her was nearly visible, and Revan's heart pounded in her ears with each heavy step she took towards the place. The jarring transition from stark, natural Malachor to the dull silver of the Trayus Academy was sudden, seeming almost surreal.

As Revan reached the door of the Academy, it swung open. Revan was, evidently, expected.

Lightsaber cold and ready in her hands, Revan walked inside.

* * *

Canderous felt uneasy. Ever since she had left, he had been sure he was hearing her scream, but as soon as he turned to look, the sound stopped. It rang in Canderous' ears, though, making his pulse quicken.

He heard the sound again, but resisted it, telling himself over and over again that it was an illusion, it was just his fear…

A sweat broke out on his forehead. He leaned against the supply canister beside him, holding on to it until his knuckles were white and he could nearly feel the pain in his bones.

Eyes wide, he held on desperately until the pain subsided.

"It's this planet," he told himself. "It's like… echoes of that battle."

Canderous looked around, making sure no one was nearby, least of all Revan. Neither Revan nor T3 was in sight, and Canderous continued to wonder at this planet, dread coursing through him with every quickening heartbeat.

Uncharacteristically nervous, Canderous checked the time.

_Why was she taking so long?

* * *

_

Revan repressed the feelings that longed to come out. She waited for the old woman before her to move or to speak. Finally, Revan stepped forward herself.

"Is it Traya now?" asked Revan. Her fingers twitched anxiously.

"Call me what you will, Revan. I am just the same as I always was. Titles mean little here."

The withered woman's voice was powerful, echoing through the hollow academy. She was standing, as still as though Revan had never entered.

"You know why I'm here, don't you, Traya?"

The black-clad woman turned sharply to face Revan. The hood of Traya's cloak generally hid her milky eyes, but Revan knew that Traya was staring straight into her.

"Of course I do," Traya scoffed. "Come, Revan. Here, my energies are the strongest."

Revan obediently walked towards the glowing core. Its red lights seemed to pulse with organic hatred. Slowly, Revan moved next to Traya, who turned back to the pit she had been looking into when Revan entered.

"Look, Revan," Traya commanded, "look closely."

Revan did as she was told. A strange feeling wrapped itself around her, neither dark nor light, and Revan felt strangely inclined to accept it. As she did, her eyes shot open.

Revan had never seen so vividly in her life. The brightness of what she was seeing stung her eyes nearly to tears, and she struggled to maintain her footing. Images of destruction and warfare engulfed her, and she suddenly found herself unable to breathe.

"Traya," she gasped, "What is this?"

Traya's voice resounded in Revan's mind.

_This is why you have come, Revan. This is the Sith Empire, the true one. You must leave here, alone, and fight these Sith before they invade._

Revan absorbed this slowly.

"Traya," revan wheezed, "they already have, haven't they?"

_Hardly. A girl leading a campus-wide revolution while she poses as a Jedi's cleaning girl cannot possibly hope to be a true Sith. They are using her, certainly, but she cannot stop you._

Cleaning girl. So, reflected Revan, Canderous _had_ seen her before.

"How can I… stop the Sith?"

_You will leave this galaxy. And you will, for a time, wait. Alone. Hide in the Sith Empire until more come._

"More?" The overwhelming sensations were starting to cloud Revan's thoughts.

_More. I will send others, Revan, do not fear that. Until then, you must go and hide. Alone._

"Canderous…"

_Ah, the Mandalorian. The one who will obey you at all costs. The one who feels that there is hope for his clan. But his clan, Revan, his clan is dead. Mandalorians are mercenaries now. You know this. You have felt it. But he will not, say what you will. So you must give him the helmet of Mandalore, Revan, so that he will obey you. He can gather what is left of his scattered tribes, and you… you will have an army, Revan, the most powerful of all time._

"Helmet… he has a helmet."

_Canderous hopes to gather the Mandalorians, even with the wrong helmet. The helmet he has is not that of Mandalore. _You_ know where it is._"

Did she? Revan looked out at the pit. Her senses were beginning to adapt to the stimuli before her.

There it was. Mandalore's helmet. On Dxun… of course.

Revan had put it there.

_Correct. And you will give it back._

Revan nodded. "Traya, I am done here."

Traya moved a wrinkled hand before her, and the noise and imagery stopped, leaving Revan dizzy.

"Go then, Revan. Remember what I have told you. And follow my council. I have never lied to you, Revan, you know that full well."

Revan looked at the woman icily, then briskly turned around and left.


End file.
